Runes of Atlantis
by Midnighter 13
Summary: Harry has a talent for languages, he learns fifteen of them before he reaches Hogwarts. Will he be able to learn the British Spell language fluently? And what other uses might that language have?
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter grew up on Private drive, a very normal street, in a very normal neighborhood. Harry had, from the age of one, lived with his relatives, who disliked anything that was abnormal. Thus Harry pretended to be as normal as possible. But secretly, Harry was not normal at all.

Harry had discovered at the age of three that he had an affinity for languages. By age five, Harry could speak English, French, and German. By age ten, Harry could read and write in English, Spanish, German, French, Latin, Japanese, Hebrew, and was working on learning Arabic, Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Persian, Ancient and Modern Greek, and was even trying to break the Ancient Kush language.

Of course he had to keep his abnormal knowledge secret from his relatives. While not cruel, they were not kind either, and Harry knew even at that tender age not to bite the hands that fed him.

He used a computer that he got for his fourth birthday to look up different words and phrases, and he studied ancient texts online all the time he could spare. He used a pseudo name online to help some of the archeologists and linguists working on the Ancient Kush translation, and had actually made a breakthrough himself at one point.

Of course he asked for payment, but it was in the form of ancient texts that he could study mostly, and nearly all of his peers in linguistics were delighted to have his opinion. Harry had all of his texts shipped to a P.O. Box held under his pseudo name, so none of his colleges were any the wiser. They thought that he was some kind of under worked professor in Britain who was looking for a way to keep himself busy, and in a way, this was not far from the truth.

While Harry was only average in maths, and even the sciences, he was far and above the best student in writing, grammar, and literature to pass through his school in a very long time. Through his pseudo name, Harry had amassed a small nest egg of 50,000 Pounds in consultant fees, held in a trust fund account.

Of course the Dursleys didn't realize that Harry was a lingual genius, that would have been far too abnormal for their normal lives, and so when Harry came home now and then with boxes from the post office, they ignored them completely.

This was easy to do as Harry would take the boxes up to his room (the smallest one) and only opened them there. Furthermore, Harry always put his texts in the crawl space in his closet, so the Dursleys had no reason to suspect that Harry was studying ancient manuscripts and philosophy.

By the age of eleven, Harry had amassed a small library of literature, most of which was copies of rare or even unheard of texts from all over the world. Harry had studied philosophy from the Greeks, Persians, and Egyptians, as well as studying modern Chinese and Ancient Mayan.

Harry was looking forward to his birthday in a few weeks as he got up on that fateful day. After getting dressed, Harry went down stairs, picked up the mail, and began making breakfast like normal.

Harry liked cooking; he had found that it was a great way to relax. By the age of six, Harry had been able to cook well enough that his aunt had given in to his pleading and allowed him to make breakfast for the family.

On this particular day, after the bacon was sizzling and the eggs were finished frying, Harry began sorting through the mail. Uncle Vernon hated junk mail, so Harry had decided when he started making breakfast that he would sort the mail, and save his uncle the trouble.

Of course it also helped his aunt and cousin, simply because his uncle would be in a far better mood if he didn't need to sort through the annoying rubbish.

As Harry sorted through the letters, throwing out the junk, putting the bills on the counter, and putting the things that his Uncle might want to review near his plate, Harry came upon a letter made out of some form of parchment addressed to him by name, and more importantly, by room.

Harry immediately realized that whoever had sent the letter was likely observing him in order to know where his room was. He gave no outward reaction to seeing the letter (he perfected his 'bland and blank' mask a long time ago) but simply put the letter in his pocket.

Internally however, he was scared. Mail _never_ came to him at this address; he had made sure that all of his mail went to his P.O. Box. More importantly, his P.O. Box was not in his name, so for anyone to send him mail _here_ at Number Four Private Drive, they would have had to have traced his mail to his P.O Box (not to difficult Harry had to admit) then to him, then tracked _him_ directly back to the house. Finally, they would have to have entered or observed the house in order to determine his name and where his room was.

Harry realized before he had even opened his strange parchment letter that whoever sent it was not only very powerful, but they were also trying to send him a message. Just what that message was would have to wait until he read it.

Harry rushed breakfast that morning. His cousin noticed, even if his aunt and uncle were oblivious.

Finally, Dudley asked "Harry what's wrong? You've been acting jumpy all morning."

Harry jumped again; as he realized that he had indeed been jumping around, looking for some form of observation on the house.

"No, I'm fine Dudley, just a bit exited about a history project I'm working on" Harry made up on the spot.

Harry was nervous about saying anything that might be overheard by anyone observing him.

Dudley however seemed to accept this, and finished his breakfast without another word.

Harry rushed back to his room after breakfast. While it was his job to cook, he let his aunt's advice on overwork overrule him on cleaning up afterwards. He had never been happier with not having to clean up the kitchen than right then.

Harry bolted into his room, closed the shutters and immediately looked around his room for some sort of surveillance.

Finding nothing of any note (Harry didn't think they would be able to put spying equipment in his manuscripts without him noticing, whoever _they_ were.) Harry carefully set down the letter on his desk.

He then used some lessons he had gathered over the years from his peers around the world in archeology and from various novels. Carefully, Harry opened the letter without ripping the paper or damaging the wax seal. Examining the interior for any kind of surveillance equipment or weapon, Harry found nothing but more parchment.

Continuing to be overly cautious, Harry pulled on latex gloves before pulling out the parchment and opening it carefully.

When he saw the opening line, his heart sank, after reading through the rest of the letter his body followed. He sat on the floor with a sudden thump.

_Dear Mr. Potter, _

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31._

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress 

Harry was desperately hoping that this was some kind of prank or joke, but he knew that Dudley wouldn't do something like this, and no one else he knew had access to parchment.

Harry examined the parchment and ink for any kind of distinguishing marks telling where it had come from, but he found nothing.

Finally, Harry opened the second note, being just as careful as with the first one.

_Hogwarts School  
of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

UNIFORM  
First-year students will require:  
sets of plain work robes (black)  
plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)  
Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS  
All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)  
by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi  
by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them  
by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection  
by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1 set brass scales

Students may also bring and owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

After reading the list, Harry knew this was genuine. Oh, he still wished it was a prank, but he knew that few people outside his circle of contacts knew as much about legends as he did, and many of the things on the list matched far to closely for Harry to dismiss it at a prank any longer.

Of course that then raised a whole host of other questions like why were they watching him? How were they doing it? And how on earth was he supposed to respond using an owl that he didn't have.

Furthermore, even if he knew how to respond physically, how should he answer on the question of attendance?

Harry decided that he was going to try and get more information first. Unfortunately, after nearly an hour searching online, Harry was no closer to finding out about this Hogwarts than when he started.

Going with his aunt to pick up a couple of birthday presents for Dudley (his birthday was in two days) Harry could not get his mind off of the strange letter that was laying in the crawl space with his other manuscripts.

Harry was able to help his aunt with the shopping (and flatly vetoed getting Dudley a collection of rubber ducks, his cousin was turning eleven not three) but was still obviously distracted even to his aunt's normally oblivious eye.

Finally she asked flat out "Harry what's wrong; you've been acting jumpy all day."

Harry looked down and tried to think up something that would satisfy his aunt. Unfortunately he knew she wouldn't buy the 'history project' excuse as easily as Dudley did.

Finally, realizing that he needed help of some form or another, Harry said

"I got a very strange letter this morning, and I'm not sure if it's real, or if it's a prank. Either way though, they know not only where I live, but where my bedroom is, so I'm a bit nervous."

Petunia paled. Harry looked at her in concern.

"P-p-please tell me didn't get a letter from Hogwarts" Petunia stuttered.

Harry looked up at her in shock. "How did you know?" Harry asked with a bit of trepidation.

His aunt seemed to sag before saying "Because your mother got her letter at your age, and it seems they don't change much."

Harry gaped at her for a moment, and then began thinking very quickly.

As Harry questioned his aunt on everything she knew about the magical world, Harry realized one thing more important than all the rest; the magical world would give him the chance to study an ancient culture up close. This was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.

The next morning, Harry woke up earlier than normal, and sped down to the door before dawn. Thanks to his aunt's reluctant answers the day before, Harry knew that magical owls generally delivered mail right at dawn except in places like Hogwarts where there was a dedicated mail time.

So Harry waited out on the patio for an owl with a small plate of bacon. Sure enough, at dawn, Harry saw an owl drop a letter at his feet. Harry called out to it.

"Wait, there is a reply." Harry felt foolish for a moment talking to a bird, but then the owl dropped down onto his arm and held out its leg. Harry tied his reply to the owl's leg while feeding it a few pieces of bacon. When he was done, he threw up his arm and the owl flew off.

Harry walked back into the house and began making breakfast for Dudley's pre-birthday party breakfast.

While he was cooking, Harry thought back over the letter he had written, he hoped it would be clear enough.

_Dear Deputy Headmistress McGonagall,_

_ I am willing to attend your school; however I require an introduction of sorts to the areas where school supplies might be purchased. If a faculty member or senior student familiar with the normal and wizarding world could come to my address at seven o'clock tomorrow I would appreciate it._

_Sincerely,_

_Harry Potter_

Harry could only hope that such a message did not make him a social outcast for not understanding a magical world that he had never before had any interaction with.

Harry knew that many isolated cultures believed that they were the best and most powerful civilization out there, and that anyone who did not follow their traditions was at best inferior, at worst a savage blasphemer worthy of death.

Harry hoped that the culture he was about to enter was not as close-minded and savage as his aunt made it appear.

(AN)

For those of you familiar with my Rejection Letters story, my next letter will be Harry from this fic rejecting the magical world.

Yes, Harry may seem a bit paranoid in his reaction to the letter, but remember he is very mature, and has read all kinds of books, including ones on espionage, assassination, and intimidation. To him (and most of us I reckon) someone sending you a letter with your bedroom on the address line is rather terrifying.

For the record, I am not British, so any mistakes I may have made regarding breakfast, culture, or education, I take full responsibility for.

While it may not seem to be a crossover at the moment, and indeed will not appear to be a crossover for a while, rest assured this** is** a crossover, Harry **will** end up working with the SGC and Atlantis, (specifically Atlantis) at some point.

The basic idea that inspired this story was the thought that the Ancient language was the base of Latin, and the magical spells in the HP verse are based off of Latin. So what would happen if the two languages are one and the same? Especially when there is someone who knows how to use it in both forms, is actively fluent in it, (as Harry will be shortly) **and **is very good at linguistics.

I wonder how Daniel Jackson is going to react when he finds one of his peers is an eleven year old kid (XD).


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning at seven AM, the doorbell rang. Harry and his aunt went to the door and Harry opened it. Standing on the doorstep was a short little man who looked like his face had been designed to be fierce and cheerful at the same time.

"Hello sir, my name is Harry Potter" Harry said politely.

"Ah, of course Mr. Potter, I am professor Flitwick, and I am here to take you to Diagon Ally this morning."

Harry nodded, and when his aunt nodded as well, Harry walked out the door. Unknown to both Professor Flitwick and his aunt, Harry had a credit card under his assumed name in his pocket in case he wanted to make a purchase of more than the required school supplies (which he assumed the school supplied).

The odd pair walked down the road and then the short little professor held out his right hand. Harry had just a moment to notice that the professor's nails were quite a bit longer and sharper than normal when a purple triple decked buss appeared out of thin air.

Harry was impressed despite himself; the ability to teleport vehicles around a city without being noticed was no mean feat.

The professor paid for the fair using a few silver coins that the conductor (named Stan Shunpike) called sickles. Harry wondered if the name of the currency had anything to do with the farm tool by the same name.

The professor spent the ride explaining to the inquisitive young boy how the wizarding world governed itself, and how they stayed hidden from the normal world.

Flitwick seemed mildly perturbed when Harry subtly refused to use the word muggle and continued to insist on calling the muggle world the 'normal world'.

When the pair arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry stared at the dingy half decomposed building with trepidation.

"Are you sure that building is safe? It looks like a slight breeze will drive it down into the ground."

Flitwick merely chuckled and said "Don't worry Mr. Potter, the building is held up by magic, and is quite sturdy."

Harry gave another doubtful glance at the pealing roof before muttering "If you say so" as he entered the pub.

The two of them passed through the pub quickly, and Flitwick tapped the bricks in the ally in the shape of a pentagon.

Harry was now paying extra attention; if the pentagon was a significant shape in this culture (the Egyptians preferred their pyramids, the Europeans mostly liked cubes or stars) then he might be able to learn more about them already.

Thus Harry was only slightly shocked when the wall receded and Diagon Ally appeared before him.

"Welcome to Diagon Ally Mr. Potter" Flitwick said with a smile.

Harry looked all around him as the two of them walked through the alleyway. Harry paid particular attention to words that he either did not use, or were used in a different context.

For example, Harry was rather certain that the Nimbus broom was not a fast cleaning tool surrounded by a halo of light, but was instead some type of sports device made by a particular company or family. (Harry wasn't sure if the wizarding world followed a capitalistic economy or a feudal one.)

Thus simply by walking through the ally with the professor, Harry learned quite a bit about this new world he was now in. Harry also took note of the fact that there was only a single news paper circulating, but multiple magazines. Harry theorized that the paper in question must either be a monopoly (likely) or had driven all other papers out of business (possible).

As the two of them walked towards a building made out of marble a far taller than the surrounding buildings, Harry took note of the different architectural design. When they entered the building in question, Harry realized two things, one, he knew why the building had a different architectural style, two, this magical world was far more socially complex than it first appeared.

The reason for these revelations was simple. The building was being run by a separate sentient species. Harry immediately grasped that this would only be possible if one of these species was considered superior, otherwise the two species would be attacking one another, unless of course there was some sort of magical reason not to.

Harry also noted the hostility shown to many witches and wizards by the goblins (that's what professor Flitwick called them) and surmised that the goblins were currently inferior to the wizards, but resented it.

Within five minutes of entering the goblin run bank Harry (an avid student of history and culture) realized that a war between the goblins and wizards was likely brewing and would more than likely explode within a generation at the latest.

Harry was (understandably) more than a bit uncomfortable with the realization that the world he was entering into was teetering on a knifes edge.

When Flitwick brought Harry up to a teller by the name of Griphook, Harry noted with interest the lack of hostility given to the professor.

Harry needed only a few more clues such as Griphook's long sharp yellow nails to realize that his professor was part goblin.

'Now this _is_ interesting. Most cultures who keep control of a culture they consider inferior do not allow mating to take place between them. I imagine this would be even stricter for different species, so how did a part goblin not only survive, but become part of a teaching institution?' Harry thought to himself.

The ride down to his vault was exiting for Harry. He enjoyed rollercoasters, but because Dudley was too large to fit on many of them, the Dursleys had avoided theme parks for the last few years.

Harry watched Griphook open his vault with his key. He was surprised that his parents had left anything to him, let alone the mound of gold coins that was revealed by the door.

"Good God, How am I supposed to manage that much money?" Harry whispered.

In the silent vault the goblin Griphook heard him clearly. With an expression on his face that looked like a half snarl he said pleasantly "You need not worry about managing your money young Lord. Gringotts appoints an account manager to each and every account over a certain amount, and yours qualifies."

Harry was a bit taken aback by the goblin's expression, but, realizing that it was the goblin version of a smile, Harry relaxed and smiled back. Giving a small bow to Griphook (who looked startled by the show of respect) Harry asked "Is it possible for me to speak to my account manager at some point? I have a few propositions I wish to discuss with him."

Both Griphook and Flitwick stared at Harry in disbelief.

"What?" Harry asked self-consciously wondering if he had made some sort of social gaff.

"Why do you treat the goblins as equals?" Griphook asked after a moment.

Harry snorted. "Because I don't want to be on the bad side of the people who handle my money, and because when the goblins get out from under the control of the wizards I don't want to get burned. Plus, I'm sure that there is plenty I could learn from your people, and it would be a shame to throw away such a potential treasure trove of knowledge because I'm rude."

Flitwick was looking at Harry like he had just seen something he couldn't believe.

"How far are you willing to go to gain the knowledge you seek?" Griphook asked carefully.

Harry grinned. "Why don't you give me an offer and we can go from there." Harry said.

Flitwick and Griphook looked even more startled. Few non goblins _ever_ were brave enough to bargain with a goblin.

Griphook gave a feral grin and they got down to business.

"The Goblin Nation can offer you books on mind magics, curses, wards, and enchantment, as well as history from a nonwizarding perspective for the right price." Griphook began.

Harry responded "I will exchange copies of semi translated Kush writings for a complete history of the goblin nation, written in your language, along with a complete dictionary of your words."

Griphook looked startled, but Flitwick looked shocked. "How could you get those?" Flitwick asked in disbelief.

Harry simply grinned. "I helped translate them" he said with a fair bit of pride.

Griphook realized then that this human boy was far wiser than he had given him credit for.

"If you can give us those translations we will gladly give you our history and a dictionary." Griphook said eagerly.

"If you can throw in a pronunciation guide I'll include my notes on how to translate the language." Harry said.

"Done" Griphook said without hesitation.

Flitwick's head was swinging back and forth like he was watching a tennis match.

"My maps of the pyramids interior in exchange for your books on goblin forging techniques." Harry offered quickly.

"No," Griphook all but yelled before saying "The maps in trade for limited access to the goblin library, with the stipulation that no goblin manuscript leaves goblin territory."

"Done" Harry agreed quickly.

"Your aid on Gringotts translation work in exchange for ward tutelage under our ward masters." Griphook offered.

"Make it your enchantment masters and we have an arrangement." Harry said eagerly.

"Done" Griphook said quickly.

Harry and Griphook smiled at one another and Harry gathered a few handfuls of Galleons (after being informed of the conversion rates and names) and the threesome left the vault and returned to the surface.

As Harry and professor Flitwick left Gringotts to continue shopping (and get a brandy in the case of Flitiwick) they missed Griphook rushing into a tunnel that led deep into Gringotts.

HP***************HP*************HP

Harry and professor Flitwick (after a stiff drink and the Leaky Cauldron) continued on their shopping trip. Harry was able to get a few good robes, and he got a few extras ingredients not on the potions list simply because they sounded similar to things he had heard of and he wanted to experiment with potions before he got to school.

After all, he didn't want to start out in any class behind, but especially a class that revolved around one of his hobbies (cooking).

When Harry got to Flourish and Blots, he went wild. He bought every book on the school list, and then bought books on runes, spell creation, history, and magical warfare.

While Flitwick looked on in shock, Harry moved all around the shop as though he had been working there for years. What shocked Flitwick the most was about twenty minutes into his buying spree Harry successfully directed the assistant shopkeeper where he needed to put the books he was carrying (the assistant was on his second week and was still learning the ropes) and when the assistant obeyed the quirky kid he found that the books were indeed in the proper place.

After buying close to forty books from the book shop, Harry had them shrunk for ease of transportation. Fortunately, the shopkeeper realized that Harry was a pre Hogwarts student, so he charmed the books to shrink and enlarge on voice command. Harry thanked the shopkeeper and paid a few extra galleons before leaving.

Flitwick followed the boy, shell shocked, again.

The pair of them proceeded to Olivander's wand shop, which based on appearances looked like it was the same _building_ from 383 B.C. Harry was even more reluctant to enter it than he was to enter the Leaky Cauldron.

Never the less, after nearly a minute of debate, Flitwick convinced Harry to enter the rickety (at best) building.

"I wondered when I would be seeing you Mr. Potter" a voice said as soon as the door closed.

Harry jumped and even Flitwick started. An old man, who looked to be near one hundred (when a wizard _looks_ that old then they are _really, really, _old) stood behind the counter.

"Hello sir" Harry said tentatively.

"Well, don't just stand there boy, step forward." Olivander said with impatience.

Harry moved towards the counter and Flitwick sat down.

"Wand hand?" Olivander asked.

"I'm right handed sir." Harry said quietly.

Animated tape measures began measuring Harry as Olivander went into the back of the shop.

Taking out a wand, Olivander held it out towards Harry. "Maple and griffin feather" he said as Harry starred at it. "Well take it and give it a wave." He said in exasperation.

Harry grasped the wood and felt strange warmth within it. He waved the wand and a stream of flames charred a section of the counter.

"No, no, most defiantly not!" Olivander said in alarm.

Olivander then proceeded to give him wand after wand, after wand, after wand. Unnoticed by Harry and Flitwick, a special holly and phoenix feather wand passed through Harry's grip and failed like all the others.

After trying nearly a thousand wands Olivander looked ready to tear his hair out. Finally as it was beginning to get dark Olivander gave him another wand. "Palm and magical ibis feather." He said exhausted.

When Harry grasped this wand he felt power rush through him. A pale golden glow surrounded him and Olivander gasped in relief.

When the glow faded Olivander was looking at Harry very carefully.

"I have sold many wands Mr. Potter, and yours is one of the few that as not come from this shore, however I believe I know the course your life may take based on this particular wand.

The Palm this wand is made from came from a garden outside a shrine of Thoth in Egypt. The ibis is a creature sacred to the Egyptian god Thoth, god of learning, language, and balance between good and evil.

Your wand matches you nearly perfectly, something rare in first matched wands, and I believe that it may well signify your destiny. That of standing for what is right, dividing good from evil, order from chaos, and bringing knowledge to the ignorant. May you bring the light of learning to our world once more.

Harry looked at his wand in awe.

This wand matched him perfectly, he could feel it, but he also felt a gap. Not a gap in the power of the wand, but rather a gap where _something_ was missing. Thinking that it was just a figment of his imagination (what did he know of wands after all) he thanked Olivander and left the shop with Flitwick following him.

The two of them stopped at the Leaky Cauldron for an early dinner before taking the Night Bus back to Privet drive.

When he arrived, aunt Petunia rushed him into his room before his uncle got home. Harry realized only then that his uncle might object to him attending Hogwarts.

HP********************HP***************HP

Filus Flitwick had never been more exited in his life. He had escorted Harry Potter through Gringotts where the boy had quickly determined the situation between the goblins and the wizards, he then managed to successfully bargain with a goblin and come out even, if not actually ahead!

Moreover, the accomplishments that the boy revealed in his bargaining session were amazing. Someone who could break a language that baffled both muggle and magical scholars for generations was not to be trifled with. The boy would be a natural at runes.

He couldn't wait to teach they boy. Harry Potter was going to change the wizarding world, he could feel it.

(AN)

I am truly sorry for not updating sooner, but something came up so I could not get to my computer at all this week. I hope to update more regularly, but I can't make any promises.

I have to say, I was overwhelmed by the show of support for just my first chapter. Already this story has the second most number of alerts on it of all of my stories. I am deeply flattered and I hope I live up to your expectations.

I am currently looking for a beta for my stories, if you are interested please PM me.

One more thing, I am writing this as I go, so if there is something you _really_ want to see, send me a PM or review and I might include it.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry and aunt Petunia told his uncle that Harry had been accepted to a prestigious private school in Scotland on full scholarship.

Uncle Vernon was a bit annoyed, but let it go rather quickly as Dudley was going Smeltings, so they would have both of their children in different private schools, a mark of prestige.

Harry was glad that his uncle had accepted their explanation so quickly, and he began to study his books.

Harry found that the wizarding world was both insular, and ignorant, but they were also arrogant and rather powerful. He knew that anyone who knew what they were doing could probably change the world with relative ease.

In fact, the Dark Lord that killed his parents had been trying to do just that, he was simply moving it in the wrong direction.

What interested Harry the most however where the books on runes and spell crafting. Runes were a language, and after working with ancient Egyptian and Kush, Harry was able to read, write, and translate runes without much difficulty. Harry thought that he would be fluent in the magical runic language within a few months, as he already knew other languages that were similar.

The spell crafting however was even more interesting. Spells were apparently a combination of wand movements, and Latin based intonations. Harry studied this language extensively in the weeks before attending Hogwarts hoping that it would give him an advantage to be able to speak in this magical language. What upset Harry was that the books he purchased in Diagon Ally gave him the vocabulary, but not the grammatical context needed to learn the language fluently, or verbally.

Finally, the night of August 30th Harry packed all of his cloths, manuscripts, and his spell books into his trunk and locked it.

While Harry knew some spells (and indeed already invented a few of his own theoretically) he was also all too aware that using magic outside of Hogwarts would get him expelled before he got there (not strictly true, if you remember Hermione practiced magic before the express).

HP*****************HP*****************HP

On September first Harry was dropped off by his Uncle at Kings Cross station while his uncle and cousin went on to Smeltings.

Harry walked over to the area where platforms nine and ten met, and then looked around.

He immediately noticed that the platform was nine and specifically _three _quarters. Thus, Harry concluded that three quarters of the stone columns that divided platforms nine and ten were entrances to the magical platform. This of course led to the problem that Harry didn't know which of the columns were entrances, and which were actual stone.

So Harry watched carefully and saw a family of red heads walk through the first column between the platforms.

After they went through, Harry walked through the illusion himself and quickly boarded the train.

He sat in an empty compartment, and waited for the ride to begin.

Harry had been on only a few train rides in his life, so he was more than a little exited by the train itself. The fact that it was taking him to the heart of a medieval culture that he could study was even better.

As the train sounded its last call whistle, a boy from the red headed family he had followed onto the platform opened the door.

"Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full." The boy said.

Harry frowned for a moment, he was sure that there were many open compartments, but still he nodded and said "Sure have a seat."

"Thanks" the boy said as he sat down.

"Ron Weasley" the boy said introducing himself.

"Harry" Harry replied, knowing that if he said his last name the boy would probably become star struck.

Ron nodded and the two struck up a conversation about quidditch. Or more accurately, Ron thought that Harry was a muggle born who had never heard of the sport, and sought to convert him to the quidditch faith.

Harry had never had much of an interest in sports, so he just nodded at all the right places and gradually tuned out the rant that was rapidly reaching the twenty minute mark.

As Harry began to tire of Ron's continual chatter, a girl with bushy brown hair opened the compartment.

"Have either of you seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one." She said quickly.

Ron shook his head but Harry asked "What's its name?"

The girl and Ron both looked confused but she answered "Trevor I think"

Harry nodded, drew his wand and concentrated on his magic. "Accio Trevor" Harry called out.

For a moment nothing happened and then a toad flew into the compartment.

Hermione caught it, and said "Was that a summoning charm? I thought they were fourth year material, where did you learn? Are you normal? Am I that far behind?" she asked rapid fire.

Harry grinned "No, your not behind, I'm just a bit advanced because I studied my books and a few extra ones over the summer. That was really the first spell I've actually tried to cast, I've just studied theory mostly."

The girl nodded and left to return the toad to it's owner.

"Bloody hell, I hope that girl's not in our house" Ron said "She's a bloody nightmare."

Harry frowned for a moment, but then let it go; the boy was obviously immature and rather stupid if he thought that insulting one scholar would get him into the good graces of another, either that or he was just to stupid to realize that he had insulted someone very similar to his companion.

Harry and Ron sat in the compartment for nearly another hour with Ron going on about quidditch team stats and players before the trolley arrived.

Harry browsed through the cart and picked out a few things that looked interesting like sugar quills and chocolate frogs and paid for them.

Harry offered Ron a few pieces of candy and Ron accepted them very quickly.

The two of them changed into their robes and left the train going to the boats where a giant man was ordering the first years into boats.

Harry assumed that the boats were some sort of tradition, and so complied.

Ron followed Harry into the boat and they were joined by the girl who was looking for the toad and a small shy chubby boy.

The girl introduced herself as Hermione Granger and the boy as Neville Longbottom.

When Ron heard Neville's last name he snickered and Harry resolved then and there that he wanted nothing to do with the immature brat.

The four of them began discussing Hogwarts houses on the boat and Ron began expounding the virtues of Gryffindor.

Harry replied that he thought Ravenclaw sounded better as they were more academically inclined.

Hermione noticeably perked up at that, but Ron was to busy trying to tear down Slytherin to notice. Harry and Hermione shared a small smile as they both realized that they were the academics of the boat.

Neville was far to shy to say anything, and he got more hunched over as Ron's bashing of the other houses continued.

After a short boat ride, the first years where escorted to the entrance hall.

The strict teacher that met them there ordered them to freshen themselves up and told them that she would be back momentarily.

Harry and Hermione had drifted off to one side of the room while Ron wasn't looking, and Harry noticed that both he and a blond haired boy were now searching the room for someone.

Harry had the funny feeling that they were both looking for the famous Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, and not Harry Potter, normal looking student, so he was safe for the moment. Just to be sure thought, Harry made sure his hair covered his scar. After a few moments the teacher returned and led them into the Great Hall.

Harry was surprised by the ceiling, and Hermione said "The ceiling is enchanted to look like the sky outside, I read about it in"

Harry and Hermione spoke at the same time "Hogwarts a History"

The two of them shared a grin before the Sorting Hat began singing.

Harry was very interested in the song, and paid very close attention to the words and their meanings.

He personally thought that sorting people by personality was rather stupid; they should be sorted by their ability to contribute to society by academics, labor capability, intelligence, or better yet not sorted at all. The wizards seemed determined to splinter their society from the very beginning. Something that Harry found down right insane.

When Hermione's name was called she stepped up and was placed in Ravenclaw rather quickly.

Neville was placed in Gryffindor, and Harry's name was called. Whispers broke out around the hall. Harry stepped forward ignoring Ron's whispered "Bloody hell" when he realized who his companion had been on the train.

When the hat was placed on his head Harry heard the voice of the hat within his brain.

'Interesting, very interesting, you have plenty of knowledge, and you could easily fit into Ravenclaw, but you are also fair and loyal, making you a possible Hufflepuff.

You have ambition, my oh my, what ambition, but you are not currently ruthless enough for Slytherin, so you have a choice, Slytherin where you will become powerful, but will always need to watch your back, Hufflepuff where you will make friends, but will not have power, or Ravenclaw, where you will have knowledge without many friends.'

Harry considered for a moment, and then thought to the hat

'I would prefer Ravenclaw if you don't mind'

The Hat seemed to agree with him because it shouted out "RAVENCLAW!"

Harry took off the hat and moved to the cheering table. As he sat next to Hermione, Harry glanced up at the head table and saw the old headmaster looking shocked and a teacher with greasy hair glaring at him.

Harry shrugged and began talking with Hermione.

After Weasley and Zabini were sorted (one to Gryffindor, the other to Slytherin) the Headmaster stood and said "I have a few words before we begin our feast, and here they are, nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak, thank you."

As the plates filled with food Harry said to Hermione, "I think that man is a bit daft."

Hermione, considered it for a moment before saying "It's possible, but I don't think they would let a crazy teacher lead the school."

Harry nodded in agreement before asking "Whose they?"

Hermione frowned, and then stared at him, "That's a very good question Harry" she said with a bit of surprise.

Harry grinned, "I live to serve your worshipfulness"

Hermione giggled.

HP****************HP*********************HP

Harry and Hermione got settled into their dormitories rather quickly, and with Lisa Turpin, they began studying in the library together.

Whispers followed Harry around for the first few weeks, but after it became obvious that he was not going to perform miracles in the hallways most people stopped caring about him.

The two exceptions were Ron Weasley, and Draco Malfoy. Both kept trying to get Harry to commit to friendship with them, but not Hermione or Lisa. Harry had no intention of dropping his very intelligent friends for a couple of idiots, so spent a good percentage of his time avoiding the two dumbbells.

The thing that was rather ironic is that while everyone was watching Harry for miracles, they didn't notice when he delivered.

Within a few weeks, Harry had mastered Runes, and was beginning to use the spell language fluently.

What was more; he was inventing spells and taking Lisa and Hermione along for the ride.

The three of them were the only ones who knew what Harry was doing, but even the teachers noticed when Harry started to change the wording of spells and get better results.

An example was the simple match to needle transfiguration. Harry changed a single syllable in the incantation and got a needle faster, and harder than anyone else in the class.

Harry, Hermione, and Lisa were soon using Harry's modified spells in most of their classes.

Harry also was using runes; he had carved space expansion runes on his trunk, and now had five times the space in his trunk. It was the size of a good sized closet.

In Charms, Flitwick watched Harry and his friends closely, and was quietly amazed when they began using modified spells.

It usually took months to modify spells safely, and it seemed like Harry Potter was modifying them in a matter hours, if not minutes. It was quite simply amazing.

Potions however were another matter. Harry liked cooking, and he had studied some chemistry, so he thought that he would be at worst decent in the class. Unfortunately the teacher Snape seemed to hate Harry's guts for no appreciable reason.

Harry and Lisa partnered in Potions, and almost every class Snape found an excuse to dock them points.

Harry was getting tired of it, as was Lisa, but neither they, nor Hermione could figure out a solution.

Finally Harry asked Professor Flitwick to observe the class without being seen. The professor was understandably curious about the request, and so he disillusioned himself and observed the class.

At the end of the class Flitwick was furious.

He confronted Snape, and told him in no uncertain terms that he was to stop unfair punishments.

Snape of course sneered and refused. Flitwick gave a feral grin and said "Wrong answer."

The next day the Slytherins and Ravenclaws were shocked when Flitwick started taking points from the Slytherins for virtually no reason while awarding Ravenclaws hundreds of points practically for showing up.

The Slytherins complained to their head of house and Snape stormed over to Flitwick's classroom to confront him.

Flitwick however sneered at Snape and told him he wasn't interested in playing fair, using the exact same words Snape had used the day before.

Furious Snape brought the matter to Dumbledore, but Flitwick resolutely stated that as long as Snape was allowed to punish Ravenclaws for doing their work, he could do the same thing to Slytherins.

When Flitwick revealed that all of this mess started after he secretly observed a potions class at the request of one of his students Snape blew a gasket.

"By what right do you invade my classroom and watch me! I am a teacher and a head of house!"

"From what I saw in that class, Peeves is a better teacher than you are, at least he gives lessons on where and what to avoid, you aren't even competent enough to do that!" Flitwick retorted.

Dumbledore tried to diffuse the situation, only for McGonagall to support Flitwick and announce that she would be doing the same thing unless Snape's excesses were reigned in.

When Dumbledore refused, the rest of the teachers announced their own plans to weight the house point system and walked out.

HP***********************HP**********************HP

Over the next few days a record number of points were given and lost in every class. By the end of the week the students no longer cared about house points as hundreds of points were being given and taken for things like breathing and blinking depending on where you were.

Snape was furious that his point abuses were now no longer considered unfair (it made him happy that he could bring the other houses down) but instead he had to keep growing more excessive just to keep up with the new norm.

Harry, Hermione and Lisa meanwhile continued with their education, unaware that they were the ones who started the points war.

The three of them were thus studying in the library on Halloween and missed the feast (they were working on modifying the lumos spell and an essay assigned by McGonagall.)

The three of them walked back to their common room when they heard a growling sound around the corner.

Not paying it any attention the three walked around the corner and froze. In front of them a mountain troll was also frozen in the process of walking towards them.

The three of them screamed as one and turned to run.

The troll also broke out of it's stupor and chased them. The three ravens ran onto a moving stair case and then onto another. They were lucky that the troll was stuck on a different stair case that led into the third floor corridor.

As it started to lumber in there, Harry and the girls began sending every offensive spell they could think of at the thing.

Nothing they did seemed to phase it until Harry banished the troll's own club into its head. Realizing that this was effective, Lisa levitated the club and let it drop on the beasts head.

When that dazed the creature, Hermione tried it and dropped it from much higher. This time the club split the troll's skull.

Not that the three of them realized this, they were to busy shaking after their near escape.

The three of them ran back to the common room and were confronted by a prefect.

"Where have you three been? Don't you know there is a troll on the lose?" the prefect yelled.

Harry replied "When we left the library we didn't, after it chased us and we knocked it out, we kind of figured it out ourselves."

The prefect and most of the common room stared at them in shock.

"y-you knocked out a _mountain troll_?" the prefect asked in disbelief.

Hermione spoke up. "Actually we might have killed it; the club hit its head pretty hard."

The Ravenclaws gasped in shock and the three first years (who hadn't realized just how hungry adrenaline makes you) decided to grab something to eat from the common room tables that were now piled high with food.

Whispers of "bloody hell" and "That's Harry Potter" whipped around the common room.

(AN)

This is the longest single chapter I've ever written (I know, I write short chapters) so I hope you'll enjoy it. Now to answer a few reviews

_Jesagon- _I hope this chapter satisfies your urge for detail

_mudbloodpotter05_- I do intend to time skip at some point, but Harry will not be spending seven years at Hogwarts, that much is certain.

_JanusGodOfPossibilities_ -What his wand is missing will be revealed later in the story.

_04farrellr_- no this will not be a Harry/Elizabeth pairing (she's old enough to be his _grandmother_ for Merlin's sake) but he will interact with her (especially when he ends up on Atlantis).

I just didn't want to post it as Harry/ Sheppard or Harry/McKay or everyone would think this is a slash story. For the record, this is not a slash story.

Now, there have been a few questions regarding the timeline, yes I will be tweaking the timeline a bit as it was pointed out to me that there was very little online activity going on in 1984. Not sure how much tweaking I'll be doing.

Now, because I'm writing this as I go I have two options for how this story eventually evolves and I want your opinion. Should Harry become Daniel Jackson, or should he be his own character at the SGC? At the moment I'm leaning towards independent character, but if enough people want him to be Daniel then I'll go that way.

So just leave a review stating your preference and I'll go from there.


	4. Chapter 4

After the troll incident the students of Hogwarts looked at the Ravenclaw trio with a lot more respect.

The morning after Halloween Dumbledore announced that they had killed the troll and he awarded them thirty points each for bravery and courage.

The Slytherins guffawed at this and the Gryffindors looked upset that their reputation as the brave house was being taken, but the Ravenclaws congratulated the first years as those points might well give them the house cup.

The three of them also got far more people trying to befriend the suddenly popular first years. Unfortunately for them, the trio was perfectly content with how they were. While they studied with various groups, only the three of them worked on the more advanced things.

Harry was working on modifying spells, and learning Gobblygook, as well as learning the Latin based spell language that had no real name, fluently. He was also learning Runes, but that was a secondary project.

Hermione was learning Arithmacy and was trying to develop a basic form of techno magic.

Lisa was learning enchantment and was also trying to construct illusion based wards.

The three of them helped out one another, and were working together on other projects, along with keeping ahead of their peers in every one of their classes.

While Hermione and Harry were weak in Herbology, Lisa was weak in History, Hermione was rather bad at runes, and Harry was barely competent in Arithmacy, the three of them were able to cover one another's weaknesses to such a degree that all three of them were the top three of their year with almost no effort.

Of course, their peers were a bit resentful of their skill, and some of them decided to do something about it. The trouble was they underestimated the trio.

HP******************HP*****************HP

One day as they were leaving the library talking about the successful test of Lisa's illusion ward, Malfoy stepped in front of them with his wand drawn.

Behind him were Crabb, Goyle, and two third years.

The three ravens were abnormally smart, within seconds they realized what this was.

Before Malfoy had a chance to say anything all three of them had drawn their wands.

"Lisa?" Harry asked quickly.

"Ready" she replied, already waving her wand.

Malfoy and the Slytherins seemed a bit taken aback at the efficient and casual reaction to their ambush.

"Hermione?" Harry asked again.

"One and five." She responded without hesitation.

Harry nodded.

Harry then turned to Malfoy and said "So what brings you and your friends to see us Malfoy?"

Malfoy frowned for a moment, but then decided to continue as if nothing had changed.

"Well, Potter," Malfoy sneered "you have been upsetting a lot of pureblood students with your showing off, it stops now."

Harry frowned "And if we choose to ignore your unsolicited advice?" he said silkily.

Malfoy grinned

"Well then my friends and I here would have to teach you to obey your superiors."

"Done" Lisa announced.

The next few seconds looked quite different from the perspectives of the Slytherins and the Ravenclaws.

To the Slytherins, it looked like all three Ravens turned and ran; shooting basic tickling charms over their shoulders.

The Slytherins, not being very bright, immediately started shooting curses at the Raven's backs and chased after them.

In those few seconds, while they were chasing the Ravens, the two third years tripped and fell.

Seconds later the three first year Slytherins fell victim to modified itching hexes.

As he fell, Malfoy saw the Ravenclaws they were pursuing fade away.

From the Ravens perspective, the Slytherins all charged down the hall throwing spells at the wall. Harry and Hermione split to the walls and then attacked the Slytherins from behind.

Hermione threw two trip jinxes at the third years, and Harry hit the first years with his own version of the itching hex. One that was far more potent.

Lisa, not missing a beat grabbed the wands of all five of the attackers.

"Good work Lisa, at least we know your illusion ward works now." Harry said with a grin.

The three Ravens grinned and Lisa dispelled her ward.

The Slytherins couldn't understand what happened, one moment they were chasing the Ravens, the next they were on the floor disarmed, and the first years were franticly scratching their bodies.

When they heard what Harry said, the two third year's eyes went wide.

Warding was a post OWL discipline. If a first year was able to not only design one, but raise it in the seconds before a fight, that was not someone they wanted to be messing with.

This time the ward had been relatively benign, it just gave them the wrong targets to curse, next time the ward might be nastier.

After all, judging from the writhing of the first years, these Ravens already knew some pretty vicious spells.

The Ravens left the Slytherins in the hall; they would let the third years take Malfoy and his band of idiots to the hospital wing.

The three of them went directly to professor Flitwick's office.

Harry knocked, and the professor called them in.

"Mr. Potter" Flitwick said in surprise "What brings you here?"

Lisa placed the five wands of the Slytherins on his desk.

"These are the wands of three first year, and two third year, Slytherins who attempted to attack us outside of the library." Hermione said firmly.

Flitwick smiled.

"And how did you come to be in possession of your attackers wands?" Flitwick asked with a touch of amusement."

Harry said "We incapacitated and disarmed our attackers before they could do more than attack a wall."

Flitwick's mouth twitched. "I see, and where are these attackers now?"

Lisa snorted "If the third years have any sense they are in the hospital wing, if not, then they are probably still writhing on the ground where we left them."

Flitwick frowned for a moment. "Why would they be writhing on the ground? What did you hit them with?"

"Itching hexes sir." Harry said without hesitation.

"And I used trip jinxes sir." Hermione said a moment later.

Flitwick nodded and said "Why don't I keep these wands as evidence and you can tell me what happened."

They nodded and ten minutes later the three of them left Flitwick's office and returned to the common room, where they excitedly began discussing the effects of Lisa's illusion Ward.

Of course unknown to them, they had started another phase in the points war.

HP******************HP*****************HP

Snape stormed into Flitwick's office not one hour after the attack and loudly proclaimed that Flitwick's Ravenclaws had viciously cursed three of his first years.

"I demand that they be expelled Flitwick!" he shrieked. "Potter has gone too far!"

Flitwick just chuckled.

"What's more, Potter stole my godson's wand! I want that back, and if the brat broke it then I want him to pay the largest fine he can!"

Flitwick chuckled again.

"I have your godson's wand Severus, unfortunately it is being held for evidence." Flitwick said with a grin.

"Evidence? Evidence of What?" Snape shrieked.

"Why your Godson's attempted assault of three of my student Severus, surely your godson mentioned that he was the aggressor." Flitwick said sweetly.

"The Potter brat is lying!" Snape yelled.

"Really Severus, I trust Mr. Potter's word and that of his two friends over anything your Godson or his thugs have to say."

Snape turned purple and stormed out.

HP***************HP**********HP

The next couple of days saw a dramatic rise in detentions assigned by Snape. He specifically assigned detentions to Harry and his friends every day.

This was extremely annoying to Harry and his friends for two reasons. One, they knew they were being punished for defending themselves, two, it reduced the time they had to spend on their extra projects.

After nearly a week of getting multiple detentions from Snape every single day, they complained to Flitwick. Unfortunately he couldn't do anything to curtail Snape's excessive detentions.

Harry Hermione and Lisa decided to take matters in their own hands. They created a petition that said they would not attend any of Snape's detentions so long as they were assigned on biased and unwarranted grounds.

The petition was passed around, and practically everyone in Ravenclaw signed it. It took only a few days for word to get out, and nearly all of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff signed it as well.

Harry Hermione and Lisa delivered three copies of the signed petition to professor Flitwick, and another three copies to Professor McGonagall.

The trio was also careful to keep four other copies for themselves. One protected by each of them, and one more in hiding.

The day after they turned in the petitions, not a single person attended Snape's assigned detentions.

Dumbledore was furious, but he couldn't stop a school wide movement that was supported by a vast majority of the staff and student body.

Uncaring of the firestorm they had just brewed, the Ravenclaw trio went right back to working on their extracurricular projects.

During this time, the three of them also explored the castle during the day.

As Christmas approached, Hermione and Lisa both told Harry they were going home for the holidays.

Harry was depressed for a few days; he didn't want to return to Private Drive until he had to.

Hermione of course came to the rescue and invited Harry to her place for Christmas.

Harry was delighted at that idea, and Hermione got her parents approval later that week via owl.

Harry asked Hermione if they would be able to visit Gringotts over the Christmas break, and Hermione said her parents wouldn't mind.

HP************************HP***********************HP

Before Christmas break Harry was called into Dumbledore's office. Professor Flitwick gave him the password, and Harry was told to go after dinner.

Harry walked to the office, and said the password (lemon pops) before walking up the steps.

"Come in Harry" Dumbledore said just as he was about to knock.

A bit disturbed, but realizing that there would be no one else on the stairs if he had an appointment, Harry opened the door.

He looked around for a bit, and then sat down facing Dumbledore.

"Harry my boy, I hope you are well?" Dumbledore said warmly.

"Yes headmaster." Harry replied emotionlessly.

"Good, good." Dumbledore said jovially. "And you're fitting in well in Ravenclaw?"

Harry nodded before saying "Headmaster I am currently missing a very interesting study session with my friends, would you mind getting to the point?"

Dumbledore frowned for a moment before saying "Yes, I apologize Mr. Potter, I was looking through the list of students leaving for the holidays and I noticed that your name was down."

Harry nodded; frowning as he tried to figure out what Dumbledore was getting at.

"I was naturally a bit surprised that a wizard such as yourself would willing return to the muggle world after so little time here."

Harry said nothing simply stared at Dumbledore impassively. Dumbledore stared right back.

Finally Harry said "I don't see how whether I return to the muggle world or not in any way affects you or your school headmaster."

Dumbledore frowned. "Like it or not Mr. Potter you are famous in our world, and thus it is a concern when you decide to leave."

Harry frowned and said. "I am coming back headmaster; you need not worry about that." Harry stood up "If that is all…"

"Actually no, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore said firmly. "I would like to know where you will be staying for your holiday."

Harry stiffened as he faced the door. "I don't believe that is any of your business headmaster." He said coldly. Harry stalked out of Dumbledore's office with many more questions than when he came in.

When Harry was gone, Dumbledore cursed. If the boy was going home to his relatives then they were not as unpleasant as he thought, meaning Harry would no doubt return to the muggle world if he was pushed to far. This was problematic as Dumbledore planned to push him in order to beat Voldemort. This was a problem, problems had to be rectified.

Harry returned to the library, where the girls were waiting for him. They immediately noticed that he was upset, despite how well he hid it.

"What happened?" Hermione asked in concern.

"Dumbledore decided to overstep his bounds as a headmaster and ask where I would be for the holidays." Harry said angrily.

The girls looked confused. Harry continued "He also tried to convince me to stay here because I'm famous and it wouldn't look good if _The-Boy-Who-Lived_" he sneered at the title, "left the wizarding world after only a few months."

The girls were surprised at Dumbledore's stupidity. "He tried to manipulate _you_?" Hermione said in disbelief.

Lisa laughed. "Famous or not, you're one of the most perceptive people I've ever met, what was he thinking?"

"I don't think he was." Harry grumbled.

This set the girls to laughing so hard that even Harry joined in eventually. After getting that out of their systems, the three of them went back to work.

The Christmas holiday vacation finally arrived and the three friends took the same carriage down to the Hogwarts express.

Grabbing a compartment, they talked about holiday plans and previous holidays most of the way back.

Weasley tried to get in their compartment for a few minutes, but Lisa had raised her illusion ward so he kept trying to open the door that was a meter to the right.

After trying to grab a handle ten times only to bruise his hand on the wall, Weasley left to find a compartment he could enter.

When they reached the station they got off the train, and Harry and Hermione hugged Lisa who was going to celebrate with her own family. They said goodbye and Lisa went to find her parents.

Hermione dragged Harry over to the muggle side of the platform and waved to her parents. Her parents waved back, and Hermione dragged him over to them.

"Hi mum, hi dad, I missed you." She said as she hugged her parents. "Oh, this is Harry Potter mum; he's the boy I was telling you about."

Harry blushed for a moment, and then held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Granger." He said politely.

Mrs. Ganger laughed and hugged Harry. Then Mr. Granger shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you too son, just call us Dan and Emma, come on we had best get going."

Hermione began asking a barrage of questions as they started walking towards the car. She seemed to be asking about everything from new books, to how business was going in London all at the same time.

"Hermione, relax, you'll get your answers later." Harry said teasingly.

Hermione looked at him and gasped in mock horror before subsiding.

Mrs. Granger looked at her husband "I don't believe it; a boy silenced Hermione and didn't even have to kiss her to do it." She laughed.

Hermione and Harry both went tomato red when they heard her comment.

Both of Hermione's parents laughed at the obvious discomfort the children were now showing.

Though he would never admit it, Hermione's father breathed a sigh of relief that those words still embarrassed the two.

They put Harry and Hermione's trunks in the car and the four of them drove toward Hermione's house.

(AN)

I know, I know, short chapter, but I wanted to cut it off here because the holidays and the return to Hogwarts are going to be interesting.

Now, last chapter I asked whether Harry should be Daniel. Well the result is in, Harry will be Daniel.

Just kidding, the results were overwhelming. There were only three pro Harry Jackson reviews, and eighty some odd pro independent reviews.

Obviously a vast majority of you want them to be different characters, and since that was the way I was leaning anyway, that's what's going to happen.

I am deeply flattered; this has become my most popular and most reviewed story very quickly, especially considering it is my newest story.

Happy New Year


	5. Chapter 5

The car pulled up- outside the Grangers house. The house was larger than the Dursleys, and was in a more affluent neighborhood. Still, the house gave off a sense of casual comfort that the houses in Little Winging never could.

"Come on Harry! I'll show you around." Hermione said excitedly.

"You need to get your trunks out of the car first dear." Emma said teasingly.

Hermione blushed, and quickly got her trunk out of the trunk. Harry followed suite quickly.

Emma helped Hermione while Dan grabbed the other side of Harry's. Surprised, Harry muttered his thanks.

The four of them carried the trunks into the house. Harry's was placed in the guest bedroom, while Hermione's was put back in her room.

Hermione then proceeded to show Harry all around the house, and then around the neighborhood.

They stopped by the library, and the nearby bookshop in town, before heading back to Hermione's house for dinner.

Dinner was a fun affair. The Grangers asked about the magical world, and the pair was more than happy to talk about Hogwarts and share stories of their classes. The pair was especially gleeful in retelling their de-fanging of Snape.

The Grangers were at first rather concerned that a man resembling Snape, who was obviously unsuited for the classroom, was teaching a core subject. After hearing what the trio had done to the man, Dan and Emma were laughing uproariously.

The four had a very fun evening that culminated with watching the fourth Star Wars movie.

Over the next few days leading up to Christmas, Harry and Hermione explored the neighborhood more than Hermione had ever done before on her own. Harry had also managed to get to his Post Office and retrieve a number of letters and packages that he had requested held for him.

Reading through the letters, he came upon one from a Dr. Jackson, asking his opinion on Egyptian hieroglyphs that supposedly predated the official date that the Pyramids were built by.

Interested, Harry wrote back and asked for more information. The packages contained a large number of books, scroll, and other writings, mostly from Egypt, but a few from Greece, China, and Indonesia.

Hermione asked him why he was getting so much mail from such strange places and Harry grinned.

He began explaining to Hermione his gift with languages, and how he had turned it into a small but profitable (for him) business.

Hermione was astounded by the idea that Harry had accumulated not only fifty thousand pounds, but also texts. Texts that were rare, to down right unique.

Hermione tried to insist that she be allowed to read the texts, but after looking at them, she realized that even if Harry gave them to her, she wouldn't be able to read them until she learned the languages, and that could take years if not decades.

Disappointed, she asked Harry what his pen name was in the linguistic world. Harry grinned "Howard Carter" he responded cheekily.

"Didn't he find..." Hermione began.

"The Tomb of Tutankhamun, yes he did. That's why I chose him."

Hermione nodded. "You know you're going to have to tell Lisa about this." Hermione said firmly.

Harry nodded. "I was planning on telling you both before the end of the year anyway." Harry said calmly.

The rest of the week passed in a blur of study, writing letters, talking with Hermione, and preparing for the Christmas holiday.

Shortly before Christmas, Harry asked if they could visit Diagon Alley.

The Grangers didn't mind, and both Harry and Hermione wanted to shop there, so the four of them piled in the car and drove to Charring Cross.

The four passed through the Leaky Cauldron without any problems. Harry drew his wand and tapped the required pentagram to gain access to the magical shopping district.

The four first made their way to the bank, so that the Grangers could exchange currency, and so Harry could deliver on his side of the Goblin's deal.

HP**************************HP************************HP

Harry entered the bank and walked up to a goblin teller.

"I would like to speak with Mr. Griphook please" Harry said politely.

The teller looked startled that a wizard knew a goblin by name, but then he quickly became suspicious.

"And what business do you have with _master_ (the goblin emphasized the title) Griphook boy?" the teller sneered.

Harry gave a tight lipped smile. "I am here to conclude a previously negotiated bargain."

The Goblin frowned and pressed a button on the bottom of his desk.

Moments later Griphook walked out of a tunnel and nodded to Harry.

"Good day Mr. Potter." Turning to the teller he said "I assume that he is the one I was summoned about?"

"Yes master Griphook." The teller said quickly.

"Excellent, you may proceed." The teller nodded and Griphook led Harry down into the depths of Gringotts.

Gringotts was more than a bank to the British Goblins, it was their nation. Harry was led not into the lower caverns, where wizard gold was held, but instead into the upper caverns.

Harry gasped as he and Griphook emerged into a massive hall, three times the size of Hogwarts Great Hall, and completely filled with shops recessed into the walls of the cave.

Griphook hurried Harry past as Harry tried to see what the Goblin merchants were selling. Stares followed them as the goblin artisans realized that a _human_ was walking through their realm unopposed. The goblins were immediately watchful and suspicious.

Goblins considered humans to be short sighted greedy impulsive creatures. The fact that they routinely stole goblin treasures while only paying the initial fee reinforced the notion.

Humans, even muggles were long lived by the standards of the goblins. The goblins generally lived only an average of forty years, and that only with what magical medicine they had.

Never the less, the goblins thought far farther ahead than humans, especially wizards. The Goblins thought ahead by generations, usually more than one. They were a rather patient race, waiting until they had power and then striking their foes.

Thus a greedy thieving shortsighted human being escorted through a market that the wizards were not supposed to know about made quite a stir among the goblin artisans and merchants.

Griphook hurried Harry thought the cavern and off into another cave complex. Goblins here hurried to and fro, doing all manner of things by torchlight.

Harry was interested in the architecture, but Griphook did not give him time to admire it. All he was really able to see was that the granite and marble walls were covered in runes, both pressed in and extruding from the walls.

The pair walked through the tunnel until they reached a pair of doors that were cast from solid gold. The gold was forged with runes written in the molten metal as it cooled, leaving the runes virtually indestructible.

In front for the doors were four heavily armed goblins, one on each side, and two in front of the door.

Griphook walked up to them and spoke in goblygook for a moment. Fortunately Harry understood it to some degree now, so he understood Griphook's request for library access.

The right hand goblin nodded sharply and the two front goblins opened the door.

The Goblin library was unlike anything Harry had ever seen. It was a long hall, nearly thirty feet in width, and nearly a quarter mile long.

On the sides alcoves opened onto rooms the size of small houses, each filled with books, scrolls, maps, and even some artifacts.

Harry gasped. The Library was filled with more knowledge than he could learn in a lifetime. Looking at Griphook for permission, Harry was surprised to see Griphook beckoning him forward.

Following in confusion, Harry walked passed seventeen rooms before Griphook entered one.

Harry followed into a room filled floor to ceiling with tablets, scrolls, and the occasional book.

Griphook moved to a shelf of maps that had an empty space on it and stopped.

Harry stopped behind him in confusion. Griphook turned to Harry with a feral grin.

"If you can place your maps and translations here you may have limited access to our library. As per our agreement you may not remove anything from the library, nor may you study certain goblin practices, however you may study anything that is not held as a goblin secret.

Without hesitation Harry removed copies of his maps and notes and placed them on the shelf.

Griphook handed him a gold coin with a hole in the middle.

"An _Ahnleh, _an Egyptian coin of the priesthood, they were once the only coin needed by Egyptian wizards. After the Romans came, the priesthood fell, and the _Ahnleh's_ were mostly lost." Griphook looked down at that, as if in shame. "We have since found only a few, but have used them as untraceable; portkeys to our Library."

Harry looked at the coin in his hand. He felt a warmth coming from the coin, one that he could _feel,_ but that he couldn't identify.

"And you feel safe giving me such a thing?" Harry said quietly.

Griphook gave a nasty grin. "That coin now signifies that you are a friend of the Goblin nation, and we need all the allies we can get." Griphook said simply. "We also have used the _Ahnleh _as a form of binding charm, so that you may not betray our secrets to the Ministry, or any others without permission. That clause will not kick in until you use the _Ahnleh _however."

Harry nodded. That made sense. He would certainly be wary when giving a potential enemy, however kind and good they might seem, access to his most powerful and precious secrets.

"Well, let's get started then." Harry said with anticipation.

Harry spent hours in the Library. He quickly realized that the items and writings were organized by subject. The room he had started in was the Egyptian room.

While Harry spent a good hour browsing through that room, he was eventually drawn into other rooms.

In the Hindu room, he came upon a scroll that described a god who knew the speech of all animals and all men. Harry was fascinated by the implications, but despite his search he found no record of the spell that allowed it. Harry wondered if the wizard in question was in fact someone with the same ability he had. If so that meant he could probably learn animal languages too.

Other fascinating areas of knowledge were opened to him by the library. He read an opening on one of the mind arts books and was quite taken with the idea of organizing his mind and gaining a photographic memory.

Finally however he realized that he needed to get back to the Grangers, so he reluctantly pulled away from the library.

He found his way back to the main doors of the Library and opened them from the inside.

He found four goblin guards, (He wasn't sure if they were the same ones. Did goblins use shifts?) and asked directions back to the main lobby.

A lesser goblin was summoned and ordered by the guards to bring him back to the lobby.

The lesser goblin led him through a confusing maze of corridors, different from the ones that he had come in by.

Finally he was led into the cavern marketplace. When he arrived however, the goblins were not merely wary of him, they were down right hostile. A few even came between him and the exit.

"What are you doing here _human_?" spat one of the largest goblins in the group.

Harry frowned, looked around for a moment and then straightened. "I am here to study from one of the greatest centers of knowledge in the world." Harry said placating. "As far as I know your Library in unmatched anywhere in the world." While Harry personally disagreed with that statement, he hoped that it would diffuse the situation.

He was quite wrong.

"You have read from our texts? You have stolen Goblin knowledge!" the leader screamed at him.

Realizing that things were getting out of control Harry tried to prove he was no thief.

"The knowledge I learned in your library was paid for in full by the knowledge I added to it." Harry said quickly.

The goblin screamed in rage and leapt at Harry with a drawn dagger.

Harry had just a moment to realize that his guide had vanished at some point before the goblin drove him to the ground.

The goblin dagger was poised above Harry's throat when he felt the _Ahnleh _grow from slightly warm to hot.

A shockwave of golden energy flew from the coin bound on a cord under his shirt. The wave blasted the goblin back ten feet and caused the group to recoil in shock.

Harry stood quickly, and as he did the _Ahnleh _somehow ended up outside his shirt, hanging openly.

"You wear the _Ahnleh._" whispered one of the mob members in awe, and disbelief.

"Yes" Harry said firmly. "I am a friend to your nation and your people. That is why I study your arts."

The goblins were so surprised that none of them protested when he walked into the tunnel that led back to the surface.

"The _Ahnleh_ protected him." muttered a goblin that had seen the entire event from the sidelines.

Murmurs filled the room as the goblins thought about what that might mean.

HP****************HP***************HP

"Harry! Where have you been?" Hermione shrieked as he emerged from one of the tunnels that led to the lobby.

Harry thought for a moment before saying "I was studying some books that a goblin recommended I read."

This successfully diverted both Hermione and her parents from their prepared speeches.

"What kind of books?" Hermione asked excitedly. Harry tried to answer, his mouth opened and formed the words, but they couldn't leave his throat.

Frowning he muttered "I guess the security spells activated early" before saying "I can't say, they are under secrecy spells so I can't reveal what they are about, or where I read them. I was still in Gringotts though." Harry said hurriedly as Hermione looked ready to begin a rant on safety. She had become even more paranoid than Harry after the troll incident and the Slytherin aborted attack.

Hermione nodded slowly, and then dragged a quietly protesting Harry out for cloths shopping.

After nearly three _long_ hours of shopping for clothing, (Harry's and Hermione's much to Emma's silent amusement)

The four returned to the Grangers home, only to find a bit of a problem.

"Hey Hermione, isn't that McGonagall's animagus form?" Harry said as the car pulled in.

Hermione frowned. "Yes I think it is, I wonder what she is doing here."

The Grangers got out and Hermione walked straight towards the professor.

"Can I help you professor?" Hermione asked the cat.

Dan and Emma exchanged puzzled glances.

When McGonagall transformed back into a witch, the pair of them were shocked.

"As a matter of fact Ms. Granger you can help me. Can you tell me where Mr. Potter is?"

"Right here professor" Harry said coming out of the car.

McGonagall jumped and then looked sternly at Harry. "And may I ask why you are not at your relatives Mr. Potter?" McGonagall said frostily.

"I don't see how that is any of your business professor, in fact, I don't see how what I do outside of your classroom is in any way your jurisdiction unless it impacts school discipline."

McGonagall blinked.

"Further more, you and Headmaster Dumbledore seem to believe it is your right to know what I do with my time outside of your school. It's not. If I choose to spend a vacation with my relatives or with a friend, it is no concern of yours."

McGonagall stared at Harry speechless for a long moment.

"Mr. Potter" McGonagall said slowly "You are a celebrity in our world, and there are many who would wish to kidnap or otherwise harm you, so it is imperative that we know where you are at all times."

Harry scowled "Who is 'we', and why have I only heard about these supposed threats _now_?"

McGonagall looked flustered as she said "Dumbledore decided that you didn't need to be burdened with such concerns until later Mr. Potter." She cleverly avoided the question of _who_ exactly was looking after Harry.

'Hm.' Harry thought calculatingly. 'It seems that the Headmaster is even more of a control freak than I thought.'

Aloud he said "Professor, my safety is my own responsibility, and frankly the fact that you have chosen to leave me ignorant of this danger for months tells me that you are at best negligent in regards to my safety, so I really have no reason to listen to anything you say outside of school."

The Grangers (sans Hermione) were still staring at McGonagall, like, well, like she had just transformed from a cat.

"Mr. Potter" McGonagall said coldly "I will be escorting you back to Hogwarts immediately, pack your trunk."

"Now wait just a moment" Dan interrupted. "Don't Harry's guardians get to say where he can stay? I'm pretty sure that's not you professor."

McGonagall stared at Dan for a full five seconds before saying "This is none of your concern Mr. Granger, this is a matter confined to the wizarding world."

"So kidnapping is legal in the wizarding world?" Emma said furiously. "Or is it only kidnapping a famous minor that is ok?"

McGonagall chose not to respond to that and instead ordered Harry to get his trunk again.

Harry however had had enough. "No thank you professor," Harry said as he drew his wand "I'm afraid I have no interest in being kidnapped."

"You cannot do magic outside of Hogwarts Mr. Potter" McGonagall said condescendingly "I on the other hand can."

"Actually that's not quite true" Hermione said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her except for Harry who kept his eyes (and wand) trained on McGonagall.

Drawing her wand and pointing it at professor McGonagall, Hermione said "Harry and I are legally allowed to use magic to protect ourselves from bodily harm, and that includes kidnapping."

McGonagall frowned and said "I am doing this for Mr. Potter's own good Ms. Granger."

As soon as McGonagall started speaking Harry moved. He leapt forwards and grabbed McGonagall's wand in his left hand. Knowing that he couldn't pull it away, (he was using his weak hand and she was bigger than him) Harry bent the wand sharply.

The Grangers and Harry all grinned when McGonagall's wand snapped.

"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall screamed at him furiously. She didn't get a chance to do much more than that however as Emma rushed towards her and laid her out with a sharp punch to the face.

"I loath kidnappers, professor" she spat at the dazed witch. "If you ever try that again I'll do my best to make sure you never leave our prison system alive. Am I clear?"

The others, including Harry stared at Emma in disbelief.

"Good" she spat. Come on, let's call the police and get this _woman_ (she spat the word like a curse) arrested."

"Honey..." Dan said slowly

"No Dan! I absolutely loath kidnappers, no matter what their reasons are. She's getting put away."

Dan nodded in solemn agreement and went inside to call the police.

Harry and Hermione shared a grin

"Two down, one to go." Harry said softly. Beside him Hermione giggled maliciously

(AN)

I realize it's been quite some time since I last updated, but life keeps throwing me curve balls, and writers block keeps hitting at the most inopportune moments.

Now, I have two options, I can update faster, in which case I can probably get a chapter out every couple of weeks but the chapters will get noticeably shorter, or I can continue writing longer chapters and hope to get a chapter out once a month.

Review or PM me with whichever you want to see.


	6. Chapter 6

As Dan called the police, Harry grabbed a pen from the counter, and rushed back outside. McGonagall was still lying on the ground stunned, so Harry pulled up her sleeve. Quickly, before she could even begin to protest, Harry etched a rune of binding linked to a rune of magic.

By the time McGonagall had recovered what passed for her wits, it was too late. While not permanent, the effects would end when the runes wore off the skin, McGonagall's magic was currently bound. Hermione asked what he had done, and when he told her both she and Emma shared matching grins.

"Mr. Potter, you need to return to Hogwarts for your own safety. Release me at once!" McGonagall tried to sound stern, but with her eyes still crossed it ruined the impression.

"As I already told you professor, I have no interest in being kidnapped." Harry said firmly.

McGonagall muttered something unprintable under her breath before saying "As your Deputy Headmistress, your safety is my responsibility young man. As such it is within my rights to return you to school."

"By any means necessary?" Emma asked sweetly.

"Yes, if that's what it takes to keep him safe!" McGonagall exclaimed.

Emma and Hermione exchanged dark glances, then Hermione asked "Isn't that the same rational Grindewald used in WWII professor?"

"What?" McGonagall said in outrage. "How dare you compare me to that butcher!"

Dan, who had returned to the front yard, asked "This Grindewald guy was Himmler right?"

Hermione nodded quickly "And he was the one who decided that wizard kind had to rule the world _by any means necessary_ for their own _protection_."

Both parents frowned at this and turned back to a speechless McGonagall.

"Sounds very similar to the drivel you were just spouting professor." Emma said contemptuously.

Five minutes later the police turned up, asked for a statement, and then arrested Minerva McGonagall on charges of trespassing and attempted kidnapping.

HP**********************HP*************************HP

The rest of the Christmas break passed slowly, simply because both Dan and Emma were desperate to find a way for the children not to go back to Hogwarts.

The arguments lasted well into the night, going from the practical, to the moral, and even the financial reasons to stay or leave.

Finally, the two finally agreed not to return to Hogwarts for a second year on two conditions.

One, they had to find a viable alternative to Hogwarts. Two, they had to help Lisa move to that new school as well.

Unfortunately, the Grangers were unable to convince the children to end their participation in the school year that had already started. The children had assured the Grangers that the only teacher left that might try to do anything to them was Dumbledore, and he was rarely around.

While they didn't like it, the Grangers respected the children's decision. Of course, that didn't stop the Grangers from enlisting the help of Harry's aunt to try and find a better school for the children. They were willing to take almost any avenue open to them.

In the mean time, McGonagall was not having a nice time. Without magic, she was stuck as a muggle for at least a few weeks. That meant no animagus transformations, no aparation, and no way to contact Dumbledore. It also meant that as a pure blood witch, she had no records in the muggle world. Not a single reference.

Sufficed to say, a sixty year old woman with no records at all trying to kidnap an eleven year old boy and also claiming to be a teacher at a Scottish school set off alarms. McGonagall was subjected to a battery of tests, and was officially classified as mentally ill days after being arrested.

The reason for this was simple. McGonagall was a witch educated at Hogwarts, and she had never taken Arithmacy. She was barely able to do multiplication, let alone the complicated algebra and geometry problems she was tested on.

There is after all, a reason the Goblins are the only bank in the wizarding world. None of the wizards knew enough maths to even attempt it! Added to that, the very concept of math used for non magical purposes was alien to the wizards. They understood the idea that if they spent a Galleon, then they won't have it any more. They understood the idea of change for different forms of money, but for complex financial algorithms? That might as well be hidden better than Goblin forging techniques as far as most wizards were concerned.

Because of this, While McGonagall was able to pass many of the reading tests, (poorly due to the lack of language classes, but she passed) she was unable to do a single math problem on the tests.

This quickly put her in the mentally ill category, making her unfit to stand trial. So as a result, Hogwarts' deputy headmistress was sent to a mental hospital to be taught enough that she could stand trial for her crimes.

Sufficed to say, Minerva McGonagall was not having a good week. The worst part was they had taken her wand. So even when she got her magic back, she would have to find a way to aparate out of the mental hospital where there were no cameras. Otherwise, she could be fined for breaking the statute of secrecy. No, it was not a good week to be Minerva McGonagall.

HP****************************HP***************************HP

On the train ride back to Hogwarts, Harry and Hermione began filling in Lisa on what had happened during the break. Lisa was upset that McGonagall, a witch she respected, would resort to kidnapping (even if she didn't see it that way), but she was furious at the idea of leaving Hogwarts.

"No! I've spent my life waiting for this chance; I'm not giving it up because of a few bad teachers!" Lisa said angrily.

"A few? A _few_?" Hermione said heatedly. "There is Snape the abuser, McGonagall the Kidnapper, Dumbledore the Manipulator, Binns the Boring, Quirril the Incompetent and others we haven't even met yet!"

Lisa still held her mouth in a stubborn line as Hermione continued.

"Of the eight teachers we've met _five_ of them have been bad, and the other three are only passable!"

Lisa looked ready to jump in at this point but Harry beat her to it.

"Lisa, so far the only good teachers we've are Flitwick, who I admit is pretty good, Sprout, who only really knows about magical plants, and can't even give _gardening_ tips for nonmagicals, (Harry knew this because he had asked, his aunt had a garden that he helped take care of) and Sinistra, Who wouldn't know a real telescope or space image if it frenum suus in ass!" As he said this, Harry felt the _Ahnleh_ grow warm against his breast. Unknown to him, his wand also vibrated and grew warm as well.

"Harry language!" Hermione said quickly and jumped "Ouch" she said, just as Lisa did the same thing, only more dramatically.

"Ahh!" Lisa said, jumping up and grabbing her backside. Harry and Hermione stared at Lisa for a long second, and she quickly dropped her hand back to an unassuming position, blushing.

"Something bit me." She said weakly.

"Me too" Hermione said quickly. Both turned to look at Harry suspiciously.

"What? I just said frenum suus in ass." Harry said exasperatedly.

Unfortunately, both girls jumped again when Harry said it, and Lisa squealed.

Harry's mouth dropped open. "There is no way that my words did that." He said softly in disbelief.

Both girls promptly glared at him and made sure he realized that his words had done it, and if he valued his life he wouldn't say that _particular _phrase in their presence ever again.

Nodding meekly, Harry agreed, but when the girls had gone back to arguing, Harry grinned. This could have _all kinds_ of applications.

HP***********************************************HP

When they arrived back to Hogwarts, the three of them walked back to the Ravenclaw tower. When they entered, Harry quickly separated from the girls and found his way back outside.

From there he rushed to the welcome back feast. The girls were coming later, and Harry didn't want them to know about this.

He quickly made his way over to the Gryffindor table and sat next to the Weasley twins. Before they could make a sound he whispered

"If you want to see something interesting, say 'frenum suus in ass' in your common room when there are a lot of girls in the area, I think you will see the pranking potential."

Without waiting for a reply, Harry got up and went over to the Ravenclaw table.

While he didn't want to get burned by his two friends, Harry thought that the spell he had inadvertently created would be good pranking material for the twins, and would give him a favor if he ever asked for it. Plus, the reactions would be priceless if the twins ever used it on a large scale.

For that matter, if the Weasley twins experimented with the spell, then Harry could get whatever data they came up with for no cost and with no risk, something he couldn't say for himself. It was one thing if notorious pranksters found a way of pranking girls, it was quite another for a first year Ravenclaw to get a reputation of being a pervert.

Despite that, Harry thought the risk was worth it. If the twins used it, then it would provide entertainment, and also a way to possibly produce new spells quickly.

After all, he had simply said a phrase in Latin, he had not even intended anything, and magic had occurred. This meant that just spewing out random streams of Latin was probably not a good idea. Then again, shouting out random words in _any _language was generally a bad idea, but Latin was a tad more unpredictable in the results.

It had also not escaped Harry's notice that the spell had been performed wandlessly, and that alone was interesting.

Most wandless magic was simple levitation like the Jedi used in _Star Wars_, but it wasn't much use for anything else.

The spell he had used however had been completely wandless, and that opened up _all sorts_ of possibilities.

HP****************************HP***************************HP

The next day, Harry was called into Dumbledore's office after breakfast. Remembering what he had learned about the mental arts in the goblin Library, Harry resolved to avoid eye contact with Dumbledore on principle.

As Harry raised his hand to knock, Dumbledore said "Come in Harry"

Sighing (the whole fake X-ray vision thing got old _very_ fast) Harry entered Dumbledore's office.

"Ah. Mr. Potter, thank you for coming." Dumbledore said.

Harry nodded, and sat down.

"How are you doing Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked kindly.

Harry sighed again before saying "I'm fine sir, other than being called into your office apparently for the sole reason of exchanging pleasantries with my headmaster."

Frowning slightly Dumbledore asked "Yes, well, I sent a number of people out searching for you over the holidays, and I'm afraid that Minerva did not return. You wouldn't know anything about that would you my boy?"

Harry was careful to avoid Dumbledore's eyes as he said "Sorry professor, we didn't see anyone from the magical world, but if she's as ignorant of muggle culture as most wizards then it wouldn't surprise me if she got arrested and is currently in prison."

Dumbledore frowned, unsettled by Harry's blasé attitude.

Harry then asked "Was there a reason you sent search parties out for me in particular Headmaster?"

Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye said "Yes Mr. Potter, we didn't know where you were."

Harry snorted. "I believe I already told you that what I do on my vacations is none of your business."

"I see, well thank you Mr. Potter." Dumbledore said.

Harry nodded and got up. As he walked to the door he turned back and said "If McGonagall has not returned to Hogwarts, then she is either in muggle prison, or in hiding. I wonder what she could be hiding from?"

With that Harry left Dumbledore's office, leaving a troubled Headmaster behind.

HP**************************HP***********************HP

Dumbledore was concerned. Of all the people he had searching for Harry Potter, only Minerva had not reported in. He had tried asking the boy, but he was not only unconcerned, but he was also exceedingly unhelpful. Dumbledore had been unable to read the boys mind, he kept staring at the books behind him like a true Ravenclaw, and neither of his suggestions were in any way serious.

Minerva wouldn't leave Hogwarts, not without telling him, and the idea that muggles could defeat and imprison a witch who had a wand and was an animagus was absurd.

Unfortunately, Dumbledore didn't have too many options. He couldn't call the aurors because then he would have to explain what she had been doing when she disappeared, not something he relished doing.

On the other hand, his deputy was missing, and if he _didn't_ call the aurors then the board of governors would have his head on the proverbial platter faster than he could say his full name.

The only options he had left were to find her himself, which was not looking promising, or calling the aurors and lying to them about what she had been doing. This presented a whole host of problems, from the lack of evidence supporting his story, to the potential blackmail opportunities someone would have if they figured it out.

Regrettably, this was looking more and more like his most viable option.

Dumbledore frowned. Even if he called the aurors he would still have to teach the transfiguration classes for at least the first week of the new term, something he was not looking forward to.

While he liked children, and he even liked teaching, he found that teaching usually conflicted with his duties as Head of the Wizengamot. This meant that unless he could find a temporary replacement for the post of transfiguration professor he would be dooming the wizarding legislature and court to a week of total inactivity.

Sometimes Dumbledore regretted having taken so many powerful positions following his defeat of Grindewald.

HP*************************HP********************HP

In another part of the world, a certain Doctor Jackson hit his head on his desk. He had trouble deciphering a portion of Goa'uld hieroglyphics. He had sent a portion of the hieroglyphics to a British professor who went by the pen name Howard Carter (Daniel had chuckled when he understood the reference) and the man had gotten back to him.

Unfortunately, he was requesting more information, and Daniel wasn't sure he could get it to him. Still, he would ask. If he had to he would give it to him in person, Howard Carter was one of the best in his field.

(A/N)

So I have decided to keep writing on my longer schedule, thank you to those who reviewed last chapter. This chapter was short, but important. Dumbledore in this story is not evil, just a dark gray 'For the Greater Good' type of leader.

McGonagall will show up again, just not for a bit longer.

Oh, I have to admit, I made a mistake with the entering Diagon Alley bit, apparently it is NOT a pentagram, and I simply forgot that (in my defense, it was a minor bit just to show Harry's observation skills and I haven't read the first book in a long time).

One thing I couldn't believe about Hogwarts was that they _only_ taught magic. No Math, no English, (or Latin which they should teach considering their magic is based off of Latin incantations) and only the bare bones of British Magical history. Even that failed miserably because Binns put everyone to sleep!

Just remember that in second year Goyle couldn't even _read!_ And there was no way for him to learn because neither his parents nor friends were going to devote time to teaching him!

While most children were not quite that bad, (most were not pureblood either which explains a lot) the fact remains that few if any students will learn anything about grammar or math at Hogwarts.

You know, we always hear Snape complaining about the poor quality of the essays he gets, well being a half-blood he probably got at least some muggle education, so he knows how to write and essay, most of the wizards never had to write a _thing_ before coming to Hogwarts, and there are no classes teaching them how! No wonder the essays are so bad, they've never been taught to write them!

The same is true of the math's, the only vaguely math like class in Hogwarts in Arithmacy, and I'm sorry, knowing that 7 is the most powerful magical number and works well with 3 is not going to help in banking, finance, or Algebra.

Two questions for the readers.

One has anyone figured out what the _Ahnleh _is yet?

Two, is the whole magical guardian thing Cannon or Fannon? Because I've seen it used in many stories, but I don't recall it appearing in cannon.

For those who have had the courage to read this exceedingly long Authors Note, I have created a Forum on my profile, if you have any burning questions post them there and I'll try and answer them.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry, Hermione and Lisa got a rather large surprise when they entered the transfiguration classroom for the first time after the holidays. Instead of McGonagall (who Harry expected to be back by now) or a standard substitute teacher, Albus Dumbledore himself was standing at the front of the class waiting for them.

Unsure of what was going on, the class came in and sat down. After giving the class his assurances that he was merely filling in for McGonagall, he taught a lesson on animate to inanimate transfiguration that made McGonagall look like an amateur. The trio was impressed by Dumbledore's skill, and as class ended they started talking excitedly about ideas he had given them. Hermione was especially exited as she could think of a number of uses for transfiguration in technomancy.

"Mr. Potter, if you could you stay behind for a moment?" Dumbledore asked as they were leaving.

Harry, cautious after the man set McGonagall on him, stayed behind. Lisa and Hermione decided to wait outside the classroom door.

"Yes professor?" Harry asked after the other students had left the classroom.

Dumbledore sat down at his desk and sighed. "Harry" he began heavily "I do not think that your current living arrangements are acceptable for someone of your potential."

Harry's eyes narrowed. While he may not like the Dursleys, at least he knew what to expect, and if Dumbledore was trying to interfere, then it would likely not be good for him.

Dumbledore continued. "As such, being your magical guardian-."

"Magical guardian?" Harry interrupted.

Dumbledore frowned "Yes, as Headmaster I am the magical guardian of all orphans and muggleborn within Hogwarts."

Harry's eyes narrowed further. He did not like where this conversation was going.

"As your magical guardian, I have decided to arrange alternate accommodations for you during the summer."

Harry clenched his fists. He refused to react just yet. Instead he asked in a tightly controlled voice "Where exactly do you plan on sending me, Headmaster?" Despite himself a bit of rage crept into his voice on the word 'headmaster'.

Dumbledore however seemed to ignore the warning of an impending irruption, and smiled as he said "Professor Snape has agreed to take you in and train you over the summer holidays."

Harry stopped holding back his anger as he glared at the headmaster with murder in his eyes as he quietly said, "You believe this is a good idea?"

Finally realizing that Harry was not simply calming agreeing (as he thought he would) or being grateful (as he might be if the Dursleys were really as bad as they should have been), instead he seemed furious at the mere thought. 'Still' he thought to himself 'it's not like he can do anything about it'.

Smiling at Harry, Dumbledore said "Yes. I think this is a great opportunity for you to learn potions from a man who is an expert in his field, especially as you appear to be hopeless in the subject. A few months of dedicated tutoring should bring you up to par."

Harry exploded "Are you positively INSANE, Headmaster?" he shouted, loud enough that Hermione and Lisa jumped outside the door. Dumbledore's face was completely shocked as Harry continued to rip into the man. "Snape is an abusive bastard who takes pleasure in harassing and abusing his students. He apparently has a special hatred just for me, as I am one of the best brewers in his bloody class and he continues to fail me regardless of what I turn in."

At this point Harry was standing before Dumbledore's desk, hair whipping in the breeze generated by his magic. "And you want me to LIVE with bastard?" Harry screamed at him, completely beyond reason. "How do you know he won't KILL me?"

"Now my boy, I'm sure professor Snape..." Dumbledore began only to be cut off.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Headmaster," Harry began in a passable imitation of Snape. "The boy you sent to live with me, who I hate with all my being, just happened to read the wrong instructions while I was teaching him potions. He added the wrong ingredients and the exploding potion killed him. Oh well, he had no talent anyway, as demonstrated by his following the faulty directions I gave him, just like I do in class." Harry stopped and glared again before switching back to his own voice "And I'm sure you would just accept his word, too. You seem to do that quite a lot." Harry was thinking of the point's war, but Dumbledore's mind immediately flashed to Snape's role as a spy for the light. Harry gave one last glare at Dumbledore and stormed out of the classroom.

Dumbledore sat shocked as he tried to reconcile his view of the boy with what had just happened. He had hoped that the boy would look forward to leaving the Dursleys, and then be crushed by the abusive care of Severus. Coupled with the loss of hope for a better family, it might have made up for the lack of abuse the boy suffered at the hands of the muggles.

Instead, the boy seemed completely opposed to the idea, which meant that he would blame him as well as Severus for the abuse. That was unfortunate given that they would have to work together to kill Voldemort later, but it was imperative that the boy be abused to harden him for the war, regardless of who he blamed.

After storming out of the transfiguration classroom Harry, followed by the girls, went not to the library (their usual haunt) but instead went the quidditch pitch. Harry had discovered during flying class that flying was fun and relaxing. The captain for the Ravenclaw quidditch team was impressed by his flying, but no first years were allowed on the quidditch team, so he was thinking about playing next year. He wasn't a sports fanatic, but he thought the game might be fun. Not having observed a game yet (he was usually in the library during matches) he wanted to reserve his decision until he actually saw a game. In the mean time, he was allowed to practice flying on the school brooms as much as he wanted (providing there were brooms available, which there usually were). After his argument (if one could call it that) with Dumbledore, Harry desperately needed to relax, and the sky offered the easiest way.

After flying for a few hours (with the girls watching him worriedly), Harry came down and explained what Dumbledore had said. Even Lisa was outraged by what he had suggested, and when Harry said he thought Dumbledore would do it anyway, it was the last straw for all three of them.

Hermione and Lisa owled their respective parents about the incident and said they planned on leaving Hogwarts after their first year. Harry had Lisa's owl carry his message to the Dursleys, not having one of his own.

After that, for the rest of term, Harry, Hermione and Lisa spent as much time as possible copying the books from the Hogwarts library. Of course to do this they had to use a modified replicating spell that Harry created. He started with a simple Gemino spell, designed to make illusionary (but physical) copies of something, and then he modified it so the illusions settled into matter instead of energy. The result was a spell that could replicate any book, no matter how old, worn, valuable, or spelled. Unfortunately, the spell could not duplicate any spells on a book, which was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, that meant they could copy the restricted section without tripping any alarms. On the other hand in meant that any pictures with a copied book were no longer moving.

During this time, McGonagall finally managed to apparate out of the mental hospital she was trapped in and return to Hogwarts. After learning what Harry had done to his transfiguration teacher Dumbledore was furious and assigned Harry and Hermione a full month's worth of detentions. They pretended to go, but when Filch ordered them to clean a room without magic they simply confounded him, cleaned the room with a few quick spells and left, leaving Filch to think they had been there for hours. As a result, the detentions did not cut into their library copying time very much at all.

At first, Hermione had objected to using magic on Filch in such a dishonest manner. That lasted until Harry pointed out that they were assigned the detentions for the crime of resisting a kidnapping attempt and following the law. With that reasoning, Hermione figured that Dumbledore had no just reason to assign the punishment, so they were justified in using magic to avoid it. When she said as much Harry smiled proudly, and Lisa just shook her head in exasperation.

As the year came to a close, the parents of Hermione and Lisa met with Harry's aunt to discuss what they were going to do. They could not just withdraw their children from Hogwarts, especially not when the headmaster had such an unhealthy interest in Harry. The Turpin's planed on homeschooling Lisa, while the Grangers were moving to America to get Hermione into Salem School of Witchcraft. They had considered staying in Britain, but the other magical schools in Britain were not up to even the low Hogwarts standards, so they would do more harm than good. Fortunately, they had a contact across the Pond that would be able to help them set up a new dental practice after they moved.

Harry's aunt, concerned about what the headmaster would do when Harry disobeyed his order to go live with an abusive teacher, asked the Grangers to take Harry with them. The Grangers didn't mind, but in order to enroll Harry in a school legally, they needed to be his guardians. Regretfully, Petunia signed guardianship of Harry over to the Grangers to keep him out of the clutches of Dumbledore. All three families promised to stay in touch, and then the Grangers and Turpin's left the house on Privet Drive.

On the last day of school, Snape told Harry not to bother with the train. In fact he said "I have no intention of waiting eight hours for you in London when there is a perfectly good fireplace here."

Harry, not knowing about floo travel, was worried that Snape was planning to kill him right off the bat, so he cast a variation of Lisa's illusion ward to place an illusionary copy of himself in his dorm room, then cast a _notice me not_ charm on himself. While not as useful as invisibility, a _notice me not _charm would at least allow him to blend in better, and hopefully escape undetected. The real problem with such charms is that, one: if someone is alone they are virtually useless (at least at avoiding being seen, they do stop your face from being remembered though), and two: if someone was looking for you specifically and knew you were using a _notice me not_ charm, they would be able to see you regardless.

Harry hoped that Dumbledore would not be looking for him under a _notice me not_ and just assume that the illusionary double in the dorm room was him. Hopefully Snape and Dumbledore wouldn't realize that it was an illusion until the train had already left. Of course, that wouldn't stop them from waiting at the station for them, but Harry, Hermione and Lisa had already developed a plan to counter that.

The three of them split up, and Harry successfully snuck onto the Hogwarts express, only breathing a sigh of relief once the train began moving. They now had eight hours to stop Dumbledore and Snape from coming after them, and probably McGonagall too.

Lisa, in a stroke of genius, came up with the idea of writing a letter of withdrawal from Hogwarts, and sending copies to Dumbledore, The Daily Prophet, and the Hogwarts Board of Governors, explaining why he was withdrawing, and telling them he intended to find a better school in Europe. Harry loved this plan (though Hermione had some reservations) and they sent out three withdrawal letters from the Hogwarts Express.

Hermione was still worried that the Headmaster and possibly some of the professors would be on the platform, so they sent out another letter, this time to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, asking for a few aurors to be stationed on the platform for the protection of the students. They also included the fact that Dumbledore had sent McGonagall to kidnap Harry once, and seemed to be trying to illegally place Harry with an abusive teacher who had no legal right to his guardianship.

When the train finally arrived, the platform was packed with people. Normally there are a few parents waiting for the students. This time there was practically every reporter in England, plus a squad of aurors, the Hogwarts Board of Governors, and Dumbledore McGonagall and Snape.

Realizing that slipping by unnoticed wasn't going to cut it with everyone searching for him, Harry decided to go the opposite route, and marched right out of the train and up to the reporters, who immediately started shouting questions.

As soon as he was spotted, nearly everyone on the platform started moving towards him. Knowing that Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall would try to pull the "we are the adults, we know best" routine, Harry immediately started speaking to the press, answering the most loudly shouted question.

"Mr. Potter, why are you withdrawing from Hogwarts?"

Replying quickly, before any of the professors could get close to him to interfere, Harry said "The reason is simple: there are more professors at Hogwarts trying to harm me than protect me."

That statement brought silence to the platform temporarily, and then the reporters went back to mobbing him, shouting all manner of questions. The professors had stopped rushing towards him, and both McGonagall and Dumbledore were pale with fear. Snape continued to sneer, even as the Board of Governors moved towards them.

Harry continued, "The fact is, Professor Snape has routinely harassed and abused not only me, but a vast majority of his students, Professor McGonagall has tried to kidnap me once, and Headmaster Dumbledore has constantly been trying to insert his interests into my personal life, going so far as to illegally confine me to the castle when I would not tell him where I planned to go for my Christmas break, and now knowingly placing me in a home under the abusive and possibly lethal care of Professor Snape illegally."

As gasps were heard following his list of crimes, including those of Albus Dumbledore himself, the Professors were mobbed by small groups of the press while the governors were confronting them as well.

Harry spotted Hermione over by the wall that lead to the muggle platform; she was waving subtly, telling him to hurry. Quickly wrapping up his impromptu press conference, Harry said "After withdrawing from Hogwarts I am going abroad to search for a better school that does not have daily doses of abuse and illegal actions sanctioned by the Headmaster. Personally I encourage every parent who cares about their children to do the same. Thank you."

He walked through the press of people all looking to talk to him (either to question him or beg him not to leave) and made it through the barrier. His last sight of the Professors was them being beset by the press and the Governors while franticly trying to get to him as he walked away.

After passing onto the muggle side of the platform, he met up with the Grangers, and gave Hermione a hug. "We're free" he told her with a smile. "Dumbledore won't dare come after us after this."

Hermione nodded happily, but she didn't look quite as sure.

"Come on, you two. We have a plane to catch," Mrs. Granger said as they walked out of the station.

The Grangers had already prepared everything they needed, so they could go straight to the airport after picking up the kids. Harry had also made preparations. His collection of writings (those he didn't have with him in his trunk) were packed in with the Grangers books. He had transferred his money to an American bank (and had been very annoyed at the questions they asked) and redirected his mail to Salem.

The Goblins had convinced him that taking his money from Gringotts would not be in his best interest, so instead he transferred it to an American branch. The necessary records, mostly muggle as that was how they were traveling, had already been transferred, and visas had been issued to the family.

The drive to the airport was solemn, the Grangers and Harry spent the time looking around and realizing that they were leaving the country permanently. They had realized that before of course, but only on an intellectual level. The Grangers had been to foreign countries before, but this time they were leaving their home country, possibly forever. So they spent the drive looking around sadly at the familiar landmarks and places they knew that they might never see again.

Arriving at the airport, the Grangers and Harry (who had kept his last name in spite of the official adoption) went through security, and boarded a flight for Boston. From there they planned on taking a train to Salem, where they would find a hotel before buying a house. The enrollment procedures for Salem Academy required a permanent address, so they would not be able to officially enroll for a few more weeks.

The flight was long and rather boring, Harry and Hermione spent most of their time speculating about what their new school would be like. Dan and Emma slept a good portion of the trip, and the eight hour trip passed in a haze of boredom after the first few hours, and when they finally touched down in Logan International Airport both Harry and Hermione gave a sigh of relief.

They got their trunks and other luggage from the plane, and took a bus to the nearest train station. After a short wait where Hermione observed that they would be spending more time on trains in the last twenty four hours than planes, to groans from everyone else, they boarded a train and rode to Salem. The train ride was mercifully short, and the four travelers checked into a hotel less than two hours after arriving in America.

Dan got into a heated argument with one of the hotel managers over something to do with the number of rooms and beds they were asking for, but Harry and Hermione were too tired to care much about it. After they got up to their room (a single room with three beds) the four of them put their luggage on the floor and fell into bed.

HP****************HP**************HP

Petunia heard a knock on the door and dreaded the inevitable confrontation with the wizards. She walked over to the door and opened it. There, instead of a group of wizards led by the old basterd she was expecting, was a group of four normal people, three men (one of whom was clearly some kind of body builder) and a very attractive woman, waiting on her doorstep.

(A/N)

I realize it's been a while (nearly a year, where did the time go?) and while I could spend another ten pages explaining why this took so long, I'm just going to go with, I was really busy, couldn't write at all for four months, and the few times I could write, I was focusing on my revolutionary stories (DADA and Reality Seer) in honor of the various revolutions and uprisings happening all around the globe.

No idea when the next update will be, but I sincerely hope it will be in less than eleven months.

For those who are wondering, Lisa will not be dropping out of the story, but she will be scarce for a while.


	8. Chapter 8

Petunia stared at the group suspiciously; she was expecting the wizards to seem a bit less, normal. One of the men who was wearing glasses stepped forward and introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Jackson. We are looking for a man who goes by the name of Howard Carter."

"I believe you have the wrong address; no one by that name lives here," she replied, confused.

Dr. Jackson frowned and turned to the woman (who's figure Petunia was quite envious of) standing with him. "Sam, are you sure this is the place?"

The blond woman nodded. "The paper trail leads directly to the post office and then here. There was no mistake."

Turning back to Petunia, Dr. Jackson asked, "May we come in? We appear to have something of a mystery on our hands."

Petunia nodded and let the group into her house. Dudley was home, but Vernon was at work. Still, these people didn't seem particularly dangerous, with the exception of the body-builder lookalike.

As they sat down, Dr. Jackson introduced his companions as Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, and Murray. Petunia thought it was strange for Murray not to have a last name, but let it go. Dr. Jackson then explained how he had been corresponding by mail with a man who went by the alias Howard Carter (the colonel snickered softly as Major Carter winced at the name) who had been helping him on a translation project.

Deciding to meet with the man directly in a hope to hire him as a consultant, they tracked one of the packages they send him to the post office in Surrey. From there, it was easy to learn that a young boy picked up the packages from the post office, and between his name and general description, they were able to find his address.

Confused, Petunia asked what the description of the boy was. Colonel O'Neill showed her a photo of Harry.

Petunia paled. "That's my nephew." The four exchanged meaningful glances. They knew they were in the right place. "You mean he has been getting packages from the U.S.? Why?"

The body-builder lookalike Murray answered. "Perhaps this Howard Carter hired your nephew to pick up his mail so as to avoid exactly what we are attempting."

Petunia stared at the man for a moment. His accent was certainly not American, and his speech seemed almost ridiculously formal.

Dr. Jackson put his head in his hands as Colonel O'Neill said "So basically we're back to square one."

Petunia hesitated for a moment. She remembered seeing Harry bring packages home, but she never paid it much attention. Now she wished she had.

There was a loud series of bangs outside on the street. The four members of SG1 tensed, and then the door flew open. Petunia was halfway to her feet as Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape and Professor McGonagall (Petunia never learned her first name) stormed into the house.

"I'm going to kill the brat and pickle his bloody eyes!" Snape was screaming as he entered. Addressing Petunia he screamed "Where is the brat? I'll teach him to insult me!"

"Severus!" Dumbledore admonished. Turning to Petunia he asked "Where is your nephew Petunia, we need to bring him to…." He trailed off as he noticed the four other people in the room.

Petunia didn't bother to look behind her, but if she had, she would have seen both military officers put one hand behind their backs. "I'm afraid you're too late Dumbledore," Petunia said with relish. "By now he is safely out of the country and beyond your reach."

McGonagall's eyes widened. "How could you…." She was interrupted by Dumbledore.

"No matter. With a request from his guardian asking for him to be returned home, I will have the authority to find him and return him to safety." So saying he pulled out a form and placed it on the table.

Petunia only glared at him. "I am no longer the boy's guardian, and even if I was, I would never sign that."

Dumbledore stared at her blankly.

"He's gone Dumbledore, you're too late, he's safe from the likes of you. Now get out of my house."

Without a word, Dumbledore and his lackeys stormed out as quickly as they had entered, and shortly after that a series of sharp cracks were heard.

"It seems we're not the only ones interested in your nephew Mrs. Dursley." Dr. Jackson said quietly. Petunia nodded weakly.

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After the first night, the Grangers (plus Harry) were able to establish themselves rather quickly. A good sized house was bought within a few days, in a nice upper middle class area. Harry loved his new room, filled with bookshelves and a large bed. Compared to his bedroom at the Dursley's the room was huge. There was even a "secret" compartment in the closet for his to store his texts.

Harry had not gotten around to changing the address on his Howard Carter correspondence, but he figured that he would be a bit too busy to do any of the in depth translation work he was (mildly) famous for anyway. Harry and Hermione were sending a number of letters back to Britain (via owl) for Lisa, but they were always careful never to mention exactly where they were (even though Lisa already knew the general location).

The adult Grangers spent a few weeks getting a new dental practice going, and almost every night the children heard Mr. Granger complaining about the ridiculously long and complex forms they had to fill out. Later, after the forms were filled out (to the not so quiet relief of Mr. Granger) their business began to slowly pick up as they made contacts in the area. Still, even with those hurdles, the summer flew by as Harry and Hermione got used to the States.

They visited a number of museums, libraries, tourist traps (ahem, "destinations") and magical enclaves. Later, they visited the magical shopping district in Boston, and Hermione went wild in the bookstore. Many fields of magic that were ignored or banned in Britain were not only acceptable, but publicly available here. Blood magic, Ritual magic (largely Native American or shamanistic based, though there were some druidic rituals as well), Enchantment, Elemental magic, even Alchemy was at least touch upon in Salem, if not taught outright as a class.

Unfortunately, Herbology was not a subject at Salem (thus their grades in the subject were useless, something Hermione complained bitterly about) and Divination was not offered, but on the whole, Harry and Hermione were thrilled at the new subjects that had opened up to them.

As the summer drew to a close, the children were enrolled at Salem academy and Harry and Hermione were exited to go to their new school. After attending Hogwarts, Harry and Hermione were not sure what to expect. What they found was a modern (within fifty years) building with many of the amenities of a muggle school.

Being a day school instead of a boarding school like Hogwarts, the classes were much closer together, and they had more of them. At Hogwarts they had Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, Astronomy, History (of Magic), and four electives that they had not had a chance to take yet.

Salem offered Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History, English, Math (including Arithmacy), Science (which included astronomy), and the electives of Enchantment, Runes, Ritual magic, Basic Alchemy, and Computer Science.

Certain electives were only available at certain times for specific students, (for example Alchemy could only be taken by students who had completed four years of both Transfiguration and Potions, with a year of Ritual magic as well), while others could be taken at any time (Runes). Harry and Hermione were thrilled with the new classes they were taking, and continued to excel in their academics.

That's not to say everything was perfect, far from it. After the start of term where the social order was reestablished, there was a temporary surge of interest in the two foreign students. After a few weeks however, the interest dissipated, leaving Harry and Hermione largely on their own once again.

With only the two of them, study sessions were quieter, and more academic than ever. Lisa had brought some much needed casualness to the trio's study habits (in addition to humor) and without her, Harry and Hermione threw themselves wholesale into their academics, ignoring many of the tentative offers of friendship displayed by various groups.

They didn't ignore everyone, but they focused only on academics, not bothering to try and socialize outside of each other. For this reason, less than a month into the term, both Harry and Hermione had gotten a reputation of cold, shy, socially disinterested, and absolutely brilliant.

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Albus Dumbledore placed his instruments in his new office. After the letter Harry Potter had sent to everyone who mattered in the wizarding world, he had foolishly tried to confront him at the train station. The confrontation was an absolute disaster. The press and the Board of Governors confronted him and his staff at the worst possible time, and the boy escaped while they were fending off pointed questions from all sides.

The next few weeks were brutal. The Board of Governors actually took up their power for once (instead of acting as the rubber stamp he was used to) and fired Severus over his strenuous objections. After Severus, he and Minerva quickly followed.

With the board made up of so many Purebloods, it was hardly a surprise when Robert Longfellow was hired as the new headmaster. An old friend of Lucius Malfoy, and other prominent (rich) Purebloods, the man was nominated on the basis of his obscene contributions to the Hogwarts accounts. The board decided anyone with the will to spend thousands on improving the school would do as the next headmaster.

He, meanwhile, was lambasted in the press for driving away The-Boy-Who-Lived, and for allowing Minerva and Severus to abuse the boy. There was no proof, but the boy's word was taken as gospel truth by the masses. He was most frustrated by the fact that all of his clever misdirection's and legal loopholes had been completely bypassed by the boy simply saying who he blamed. It didn't matter that he had made sure everything he did was either legal (he changed laws to suit him) or the illegal acts couldn't be traced to him. Unfortunately, Potter said he blamed Dumbledore, and the press and sheep ran with it.

Still, even then, he had enough political clout to keep his positions as Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump, although he spent nearly all of his remaining political capital doing so. Now he had to find a way of not only regaining the power and respect (and political clout) he had lost, he also needed to regain control of both Hogwarts and The-Boy-Who-Lived. Something that was maddeningly difficult because the Minister refused to mount a search for the boy, claiming that there was no reason his guardians couldn't take him out of the country for his education.

Dumbledore wanted to scream when he heard that. If the boy was out of the country, that meant a number of bad things, for him, and Britain. First, he would not kill Voldemort until either A) Voldemort reached his new country, or B) the British Ministry of Magic had fallen. This was unacceptable in either case.

Second, his absence meant that he could no longer draw upon the political clout or money of the Potter family as he had in the past decade. This would make recovering his positions and influence much harder, because he would have less bribe money, and could no longer claim to be acting in the best interests of The-Boy-Who-Lived. Worse, he would likely be stripped of the Potter proxy seat in the next session, reducing his personal vote to a mere four votes.

Harry Potter leaving the country was bad for Albus Dumbledore all around, and he was determined to get him back where he belonged.

It was time to reactivate the Order of the Phoenix.

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Lisa's return to Hogwarts was incredibly disappointing. McGonagall was gone, Dumbledore was gone, Binns was still there, and the new Headmaster seemed indifferent to the needs of the students and staff. In fact, his standard solution to every problem seemed to be to throw money at a problem and hope it went away. No doubt this tactic had served Longfellow well in the past when dealing with the Ministry, but it only made things worse in a school like Hogwarts.

The new transfiguration teacher was a short man by the name of Professor Davies, (apparently related to the Ravenclaw quidditch player) and while competent, he had no flair for teaching. He was at best a boring, but somewhat effective teacher.

The new potions mistress on the other hand was a tall and (according to the upper year boys) attractive young woman who taught in a very fluid and adaptable style. You never really knew what you were going to be doing from day to day, sometimes you were brewing, other times you were gathering ingredients from various areas across the grounds. She wasn't a bad teacher, they were learning a ton (and anyone was better than Snape) but Lisa had a funny feeling that what they were learning would be useful for life, and useless on the OWL and NEWT tests. That wasn't _necessarily _a bad thing, but Lisa knew she needed to put more effort into studying potions outside of class.

On the social front, Lisa had made a few new friends, a couple of second year girls in her year, and a first year Ravenclaw named Luna Lovegood, who had rather forcefully placed herself under her wing. Lisa didn't particularly mind, but she did find it amusing, especially after Luna started going off about strange creatures. Still, even with some minor harassment from the Slytherins, Lisa hoped for a better, more stable year than last year. She missed her brilliant friends.

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Daniel was getting frustrated, no matter how many times he tried to translate the hieroglyphics, he never had time. Yes, they were difficult, but if he had a few weeks of solid time to put into the translation there would be no problem. The trouble was that no sooner did he sit down to seriously work on them, than some emergency happened to call him away. Every! Single! Time! It was maddening!

He needed an assistant, or better yet, a series of experts to help offload the work, but so far the only candidate who seemed to have the expertise _and _skill was virtually impossible to find! Howard Carter (and they knew it was not his real name) seemed to have worked remotely on dozens of different projects, but no one had ever seen him. Every time they tried to track him down ended in failure.

The closest they had ever gotten was finding the _former _address of his mail boy. His _mail boy_! And they couldn't even question _him _because he had left the country they tracked him to!

That alone was a strange encounter, apparently a cult of some kind was also after either the mail boy, or Howard Carter himself, and whoever they were they could be violent when it suited them (Daniel still remembered the screams of the man in black). After the confrontation with the cultists, the woman they were questioning clammed up completely on the subject of Howard Carter and her nephew.

It was like the man didn't even exist, no records, no tickets, nothing to connect him with anything at all. Worse, anyone connected to him either knew nothing, or vanished whenever they got close. The man was driving both him and Sam up the wall trying to figure out how he was doing it. In this day and age going "off the grid" should be nearly impossible, but this Howard Carter seemed to have mastered it with annoying ease. Someday, Daniel would ask the man just what he thought he was doing, hiding from his own clients. Until then, he would continue to _try _and decipher the hieroglyphics.

Oh look, another off world activation, how predictable. Daniel sighed.

(AN)

Ok, just like to state this for the record. I HAVE NO INTENTION OF ABANDONING THIS STORY! I know I take a long time to update, but seriously, if by chance I am ever forced to put the story on hiatus I will let you know. I will not simply stop writing and let this sit for years if I can possibly avoid it.

So, please stop asking if the story is abandoned via reviews and PM's, IT'S NOT!

With that being said, sometime in late September I may have to place my stories of hiatus (I'm not sure yet, I'm just giving you the heads up) and if I do I will put that on my profile.

Now, for anyone who wants to see a picture of the_Ahnleh_it is my profile picture, so see if any of you can guess now.


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